Enchantment Doubled
by VerdeFuego
Summary: A girl reads Ella Enchanted twelve times, and is given a gift. Her gift is an Ella experience. With her gift, she creates her own adventure... READ AND REVIEW PLEASE!
1. The Visit

Okay, I made this story when I was twelve, so bear with me if it's corny at parts. I did try to edit out all of those parts, but you never know. Anyway, I'd like people to read it and see if it's any good or not… I'll be adding chapters as I go along (other chapters are still being edited of crappy parts). Since this is kind of like a sequel (and yet not…) it may sound similar to the book at times. However, this is my own story that I created!

Please give me any suggestions on how to make it better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Read it and REVIEW! And, most importantly, enjoy!

_Ella Enchanted _ is a great book. I kept reading it and reading it, until my mom told me to read other books too, since I love to read. So I did, then I read _Ella Enchanted_ again. I was addicted to it. But, the twelfth time I read that book, an unusual person appeared in my yard. This is my fairy tale.

**I**t was a beautiful summer afternoon, and I was resting (at least, what I call resting) outside. I lounged in a beach chair to get a tan, root beer in one hand, and in the other hand I was reading (you guessed it) _Ella Enchanted. _I was getting towards the end, when I caught a whiff of roses. _That's funny, _I thought, _I know we have roses in our garden, but that's all the way across the yard, and the smell isn't that strong. _So I shrugged and kept reading. Then the smell got stronger and I heard the faint sound of breathing, like a very crisp and playful wind.

"Nice try, Mark, but I know you're behind me!" I said loudly. (Mark is my younger brother, who loves to sneak up on me and scare me half out of my wits. Usually he succeeds.)

The person laughed, like tinkling bells. That was not Mark's laugh. I spun around, and gaped at the beautiful lady standing behind me.

I could tell she was a fairy from _Ella Enchanted _. In our world, you would've thought she was just a beautiful woman with very tiny feet. But in _Ella Enchanted _, fairies were "regular" people who could live for thousands of years with special powers, which most fairies never used. Also, all fairies in that place had very tiny feet, so if a fairy was disguised as a human, their only flaw would be their tiny feet.

She laughed again.

"Surprised?" She asked. Her voice was like singing, just like Lucinda, the fairy in Ella Enchanted.

"L-Lucinda?" I stuttered. Believe me, this was a very shocking moment.

The fairy laughed again. I could make her laugh very easily.

"No," she said, giggling. "I'm Madria, her twin sister. You didn't hear about me in that book because I spent little time in that land. I use power that no other fairy has."

She paused, and I thought through what she just said. She was Lucinda's twin sister. Lucinda had made many mistakes before she changed near the end of the book by giving "gifts" to people. Her "gifts" had turned out to be curses. And if Madria was anything like Lucinda before she had changed -- oh boy! But I shook the thought aside for the moment, praying Madria wouldn't give me a gift and asked, "What is that power?"

"Time traveling. Through different times and different worlds, I can travel," Madria was very solemn, or as solemn as an amused fairy can get. She continued, "So I decided to use it. Not by fairy terms, but by my own terms."

So Madria was an independent fairy!

"That's, er, fascinating," I said, not really knowing what I should say.

"Isn't it? Now, onto business. I came here for a specific reason. And you are lucky enough to receive this. When someone reads _Ella Enchanted _ for the 12th time, I give him or her a chance to experience what Ella did in the book. This is my gift." Madria tapped me on my nose, and blackness overcame all thoughts, and I fell into what seemed like a deep, deep, enchanted sleep.

My mind was erased from every thought. My life was starting over, with a different mother, a different time (during the younger years of earth where light bulbs and cars weren't even dreamed of), and a completely different world of dragons and fairies. I knew nothing of what I have just described to you, and was born into this new world.


	2. A New Beginning

Okay, the story gets better soon! These first two chapters are like the background information, and they're still important, even if it's slow moving. Remember: I wrote this when I was **younger**. Please review and give me suggestions on how to make this story better!

**M**y name was Elisa (but in the other world it was and is my middle name). I had an older brother named Lou (who, when I was born, was 7) and an identical twin sister. Her name was Emma.

Emma and I loved to switch and pretend to be one another and confuse everyone… we had the same, long brown hair and slim, wiry figure. We were both the same height, too (about 5ft 5in). Mother and Father were no fun, thought. We could never confuse them. They could tell us apart by our eyes. Mother told us, "Emma, your eyes are a bright, sharp hazel with slightly more green in them than Elisa's eyes, while Elisa's eyes are a dark, rich hazel. That is how we tell you apart."

We would have been a regular family except for one detail: The curse of obedience. When Emma and I were born, as Mother told us when we were five, a shimmering light came in our room and said, "I give the gift of obedience" and was gone. Mother didn't think that it was Lucinda the fairy, for she had changed since Queen Ella married King Charmount, who lived in Frell.

How we wished we were like the Queen Ella! From the torture of the curse to breaking the curse and marrying a prince, and then becoming a queen! Although Queen Ella had at first refused to go with the title "Queen," many people continued to call her "Queen Ella," so she gave it up and accepted her the title of "Queen."

The curse was that if someone ordered us to do something, we had to do it, or we were in a lot of pain. But, if someone said, "I wish you would fetch me some flour" or "Please run to town for some bread", we didn't have to do it. But if it were "Fetch me some flour" or "Run to town for some bread", or even "Kill yourself", we would have to do it! That's why Mother ordered us never to tell anyone about the curse. Of course, why would we want to tell anyone anyway? We hated being bossed around.

We lived in the outskirts of Kent, a town about 35 miles away from Frell. Kent was not much of a town; it was just a bunch of farms grouped together and someone decided to add a marketplace for farmers and merchants to sell their goods, and Kent was born. After a few years the marketplace grew slightly, and even a zoo was added by the time we were twelve! Mother said she'd seen the castle at Frell since she made dresses for weddings and balls all around Kyrria. She had made Queen Ella's wedding gown.

Mother knew many languages since she traveled. Mother was one of the first women to own a business and travel around like a man. She was strong, brave, and very adventurous. I always wanted to be just like her. When she was home she would teach Emma and I bits and pieces of Elfian, Orgese, Athoryian, Gnomic and more. We were really good at Elfian above all else, and we learned to speak it fluently.

But it wasn't like Father stayed home. He was the best cook in all of Kent (and the tallest cook, too! He was 6ft 4in, according to the calculations of our world), and also traveled everywhere to cook. He was never home, at least, not all the time.

Then there was Lou. When he turned ten, when I was three, he began to spend much of his time with the centaurs, and became the "caretaker" of them. Tall and quiet, he was very reclusive, so we didn't see much of him, either.

While Mother and Father were away, and while Lou was with the centaurs, they left us in the care of Flora, our cook/maid who's fifteen years older than us. She taught us how to sew and how to carve, and Emma and I were fast learners, especially with carving, for some reason. Flora was my best friend, besides Emma, of course.

We weren't very rich, though. Mother did not get enough pay for her work (being a woman) and Father somehow only made enough money to keep everything going (probably since he was "descended from a peasant family line," therefore making the food taste bad or some stupid reason like that.) Also, all of our excess money was spent on caring for the horses and centaurs and the rest of our farm. We had nothing more than we needed, which was fine with me. The only expense we had -- and that we could afford --that made us different from the "poor peasants" of Kent was the fact that we had a cook/maid. With Mother and Father gone most of the time, we needed the extra help. However, we never really considered her to be our servant. She was simply "hired help", I suppose.

Our family owned a farm, and we raised horses and centaurs. But we also had some chickens and cows, though very few. We also had an herb garden, although the herbs were only for Father's odd seasonings that he invented. Sometimes Father would sell centaurs to people, but not all the time. He would also sell the horses.

This was the world that I grew up in.


	3. The Dragon, The Diamond, and the Horse

Okay, in this chapter there's a dragon… in most of my stories dragons are the coolest things and not horrible at all. However, the dragon is a different in this one. But that doesn't mean that I have anything against dragons! Dragons are awesome! Okay, just read and _please_ review!!!

**N**ear our farm was Fairy Cliff, and below that was the Kyrrian Ocean. In a cave along the shores was Dragon Cove. Father ordered us never to go too close to Fairy Cliff, or a dragon could get us. This was when we first understood our curse.

Emma and I weren't that close to Dragon Cove, since the curse wouldn't let us, well, okay, we were both seeing how far exactly the curse would let us go, since Father hadn't been too specific. Anyway, all of the sudden, a dragon flew overhead and dropped down in a flurry of wings and scales, making the earth quiver under its feet in fear.

Emma and I had never seen anything so horrible and strikingly beautiful in our whole lives. The red flaming eyes, the brown and green scales shimmering in the light, the powerful hindquarters and shoulders, the great, arched neck, the enormous wings, folded gently over the back, and the terrible face made every hair on the backs of our necks stand on end in fright. We couldn't even scream because we were so frightened.

It looked us straight in the eyes, drilling into our heads and understanding our curse. He snorted, with a puff of smoke, and said in a deep, rasping voice that sent a chill down our spine, "Well, this is easy. I'm not in the mood to eat little six-year-old girls right now, but I would like a horse. Both of you, get me a horse each, but don't tell anyone about me. Quickly!"

As ordered, we started to walk towards the barn. We tried not to, but then the pain came. The blinding white light in our eyes, the pounding of a hammer in our heads, the sick feeling in our stomach and feeling that we were being stabbed everywhere with needles began. We had to keep walking.

Lou unhitched two horses (thinking we were going to ride a little since we knew how to) and looked questioningly at our pale faces. We quickly took the horses to the dragon, who was waiting for us hiding behind the town-owned apple orchard (it is very hard for a dragon to hide being so big, but the apple trees were very tall).

"Take off the reins and the saddles." He ordered haughtily. I almost thought he was enjoying this.

We did so, dazed and under the dragon's power against our will.

"Give the horses to me."

We started to, and then, I remembered my diamond necklace that Flora had given me for my birthday. She said to hold it when I in trouble and a peace would come over me. Then she ordered me to keep it hidden under my dress or whatever I was wearing at the time, just to make sure that no one saw it.

I quickly took it out for comfort and the dragon saw it, a reflection to his hideous face. There was a piercing scream that came up the dragon's throat, and it echoed throughout our bodies. With that, he took off, a shadow over Kent.

But there was a problem. There he left us, but since he ordered us to give him the horses, we had to follow.

We started running with the horses trotting behind. Then a voice said, "Stop!"

Thankfully we stopped. It was Lou.

"What in all of Kyrria do you think you're doing?" Lou asked. "We could've lost you!"

"What's goin' on, Lou?" Gilbert and Peter, two farm boys, came running.

"Tell us what happened," Lou ordered, for he knew about the curse.

We told them.

"That's the craziest story I have ever heard," Peter scoffed. "Dragons aren't even afraid of ogres but afraid of diamonds? Humph!"

He grunted and went off. Gilbert shrugged, amazed at our story but left us and followed Peter.

"But it's the truth!" Emma exclaimed impatiently. "Besides, it wasn't the diamond that he was afraid of, it was his reflection!"

"I know, but they don't know about the curse," Lou said, and we followed him to the house.

Father was furious and ordered us never to go away from the farm or the house without an escort (he lifted this order when we were twelve, because then he decided that we were old enough to keep ourselves out of trouble). Mother was just thankful that we were alive.

That was our dragon experience and ever since then we talked of our curse about if we were free and despised it more than anything.

**Y**ears went by, and we lived in some sort of peace. We were taught to take care of the animals. After our twelfth birthday Father and Mother ordered us to work in the farm. So we did.

After a month Emma begged to work with Flora at cleaning, cooking and sewing. For, she had declared, at least she could wear a suitable dress then. So Mother ordered her to help Flora around the house.

I, on the other hand, loved working at the farm, for I hated wearing stuffy dresses, and I loved the animals just as much as they loved me.

Flora told me that she thought I had some magic about me with the animals. I was glad. That meant that they really and truly loved me.

After three months of working at the farm, I received the most wonderful gift a farm girl could have. A horse. My own precious horse. Father allowed me to pick one of the following horses (except for Ginger; Emma picked her): Elfian, a horse with very long pointy ears and a gentle, comforting air about him, Luke, a black horse born to race, or a milky white horse, much taller than the other two, that had a smooth, milky white mane and tail. I choose him.

"He's half unicorn," Father said. This was one rare moment with my father, and I was at a loss of words. So I did a horrible curtsy for him (Emma and I aren't very good at those).

"And he's yours, too." Father added. "I realize you are trying to say thank you. You are welcome."

With that, he left me in the barn alone with my new horse. I named him Moonlight.

"Emma! Emma! Come look at my new horse! His name is Moonlight. Isn't he gorgeous?" I lead Moonlight to Emma, who was stroking Ginger's chestnut colored neck.

Emma looked up into Moonlight's golden eyes and smiled. "You've chosen well. He's beautiful!"

After a while I learned to ride Moonlight with a saddle and without one. I also learned that Moonlight absolutely hated saddles, so most of the time I rode him bareback. I loved riding bareback better, anyway, because I felt so much closer to my horse. I thought life would continue like this and the curse wouldn't hurt me a bit through life. I was wrong. Oh, was I wrong!


	4. Friends of the Family

**A**fter a year with centaurs, horses, annoying and bossy farm boys, a family friend of ours and her children came to visit.

I was helping Lou feed the centaurs at the time and was wearing my dirty, everyday farm dress when Flora informed me they had arrived.

I called for Moonlight. "_SneePh laKin TuY HhaPPhonia!_"

That was Gnomic for, "Come where sunshine awaits!" Meaning in Kyrrian, "Come here to me!" and meaning to Moonlight, "Come to do something for me and I'll give you a treat."

So Flora and I hopped on Moonlight double-bareback and rode quickly to the front of the house with Lou behind us on a centaur (centaurs are very picky about who can ride them; they only trust Lou.)

Father helped me off and frowned at my filthy work dress. I rolled my eyes. Since when do we have to wear good clothing while greeting someone who is visiting? I walked to where Emma was standing. She also looked disapprovingly at my dress (she had on her most elegant dress, a light blue one with frills and laces everywhere), then grinned. We couldn't wait to confuse them. Then a footman (a footman?! No one in Kent had **footmen**!) opened the door to reveal a huge boy with a big nose a year younger than Emma and I, a very tall voluptuous girl with two small pig eyes and a wide smile about 16 years old wearing a balloon sort of dress (they cost 350 KCs, or, in our world, about one hundred-fifty dollars) and a huge mother with the same kind of dress. The mother looked exactly like the boy and girl combined, with a wide smile, small pig eyes, and a big nose.

"I'm Robert," the boy said with a bow. I had never seen in all of Kent someone who wore such fancy clothing, especially a boy. In Kent, all the boys wore trousers for work, and never wore suits.

The two ladies swept beautiful curtsies, and the mother said, "I'm Sarah, and this is Amelia. You two shall call me Aunt Sarah."

She turned to us, and we curtsied. My knees cracked, and Emma almost fell over.

"I'm Emma," I said, starting our game.

"I'm Elisa," Emma grinned, continuing the game. There was a pause.

Father sighed. However, he played along (the first time in a long time) and didn't say anything. Aunt Sarah gave Emma a lung-crushing hug, looked me over, and did not give me a hug.

"Pleased to meet you Elisa, and, er, Emma." Amelia frowned at me, but smiled at Emma. It was working.

I pretended to look confused. "No, I'm Elisa."

"And I'm Emma." Emma said.

Now the three of them all looked confused.

"Please, Lady Sarah, we have prepared a feast for your arrival. Come into the sitting room, and the food will be ready soon." Father bowed, ending our game… for the moment. A carriage pulled up behind our "friends" ' carriage. Father continued, "I am sorry, but I must ride to Frell on important matters."

With that little speech, he left. I believed it was very rude of him, but I didn't really mind. And our "sitting room" was also our dining room and living room, with a small fireplace, tables, and comfortable chairs. Everyone went inside, and Mother and Flora hurried off to the kitchen. As you can see, we didn't have any servants, except for Flora, who isn't really a servant, so Mother had to help with preparing feasts when people were at our house. We weren't exactly poor, but we certainly weren't rich!

Emma hissed in my ear, "Where are your manners? Put on your most elegant dress!"

I obeyed, although I did not have to, because someone with the curse of obedience cannot order someone with the same curse.

I quickly shoved on the same exact dress that Emma had on. Although it was beautiful, it was stuffy, hot, and itchy. I brushed my long and wavy brown hair that went almost to my waist, and raced down to the sitting room.

"Why does your mother do the work of a servant? I would love to chat with her now, but she's preparing the food, " Lady Sarah looked at Emma and me, and I had to stifle a laugh from the pitiful and pouty look she gave us.

"We don't have servants except for Flora." Emma said solemnly, and I didn't know how she could say that without smiling.

"Oh." Aunt Sarah looked at her children, and they looked back at her.

What was wrong with no servants?

"Do you…well, it's slightly rude but... do you work also?" Amelia stared at us very hard.

"Well, of course," I said without thinking. "If we don't have servants, then what are we going to do? Just be lazy and sit around and wait for some servants to appear by the sound of a bell, do all the chores, and then leave?"

It then occurred to me that they had servants, and I had just called them lazy without meaning it. Everyone in Kent had only one or two servant (or maybe none at all), and everyone had to do some sort of chore. Our visitors were from Frell, not Kent.

There was a long, awkward silence. Aunt Sarah, Amelia, and Robert all looked indignant. Emma elbowed me hard in the ribs.

Suddenly Lou came in the room, and met Amelia's eyes. They stared at each other for a minute, not saying anything.

Emma coughed. "Lou, this is Aunt – I mean – Lady Sarah, and her children, Amelia and Robert."

Lou bowed, taking his eyes off of Amelia. "Good evening, Aunt-I-mean-Lady Sarah, Robert, and Amelia."

He gave them his genuine smile. Amelia seemed to have forgotten that I had insulted her, and smiled back. Her smile was so wide, I thought it touched both ears. Emma was giggling next to me. Whether it was Amelia's smile, or what Lou said, I didn't know. After that, dinner was ready, and we all got up.


	5. What Kind of Friends Are These?

**T**he dinner was filled with the air of talk. No one engaged me in a conversation except for Emma, and Aunt Sarah pretended like the whole thing hadn't happened. I noticed she was very talkative, and so was Amelia, but Robert was silent most of the time.

Lou was watching Amelia with complete interest, and Amelia kept eyeing Lou. I grew uncomfortable, but that was about all that happened that was worthwhile to tell.

I was amazed at how much Aunt Sarah and Robert ate. Four ogres probably couldn't eat as much! Mother and Flora had to leave the tableto cook more, and then when they asked for **thirds**, Mother had to tell them that there was not enough food. I knew Mother hated having to say that to guests. Aunt Sarah looked shocked, but said nothing. Robert seemed to be pouting, and I thought I heard him say, "I'm still hungry." and "They can't even make thirds?" Amelia, however, did not mind. She took small bites and ate very daintily.

That night as we changed and got in bed, Emma and I were silent. This was unusual, for we usually talked long into the night.

Sleep had just begun to take us when there was a sharp knock at the door. Emma and I sat up.

"Come in!" Emma called.

Amelia stepped inside. Her nightgown was adorned with jewels and laces. Emma and I looked down at our plain, simple nightgowns and felt like servants. Amelia noticed too.

"In Frell, you would be thought of as servants with your simple dresses and small quarters," she remarked.

"You seem to have a big problem with our way of life. Will you just mind your own wealthy and grand business?" I said, annoyed, and without thinking again (I do that a lot).

Emma sighed, then said, "She speaks before she thinks, as you can see, Amelia. Please don't get mad at her."

She had been a little late in saying that. Amelia looked as if she would strangle me, but then decided not to, and smiled sweetly.

"Oh, it's all right. Anyway, the bed is too hard in my room. I would like a different room."

"We don't have another room, unless you want to sleep in your brother's bed," I offered.

"His bed is hard, too," Amelia glared at me, then smiled as she asked, "May I sleep in **your** room?"

"Um, we only have two beds; one for me, one for Elisa." Emma said politely.

Amelia laughed, "I know."

"So… you want to sleep on the floor?" I said sarcastically, and smiled as sweetly as Amelia had to me.

Amelia ignored me, and asked Emma, "May I sleep in your sister's bed?"

"Wait just a-"

Emma cut me off. "You can take my bed. Besides, if you wanted to sleep in Elisa's bed, you could've asked her. Don't worry, I'll go."

Amelia was going to protest about staying with me, when Robert appeared, wide-awake.

"My bed is too uncomfortable. May I sleep in another bed?"

I groaned, thinking the conversation would start all over again, when Amelia said quickly, "You can take Elisa's bed."

"Hold it, no he can't!" I exclaimed.

Amelia stared at me hard, then said, "Yes, he can, and he will."

I was about to slap her across the face, but Emma pulled me out of the room and lightly closed the door, but not too quickly to hide the sneer Amelia gave me.

Emma did not stop pulling me until we got into one of the guest rooms.

She closed the door, sighed, and then she crawled into the bed. I yawned and reluctantly followed her example.

"And you always wondered why none of the children around Kent got along with you." Emma laughed, breaking the deep silence that had swept over us.

I laughed, too. "Yeah, it's the first day seeing these people in nine years and I blow it for the rest of their stay. Actually, it's like I've never seen them before. Last time they came Amelia and Robert weren't with 'Aunt' Sarah. I just remember 'Aunt' Sarah's big nose always right in my face… but that's it…"

We both giggled. When the giggles subsided, I said to Emma, "This might be rude, but I don't understand why 'Aunt' Sarah's a 'family friend.' She doesn't seem to think too much of us, even if she does like to talk with Mother."

"Yes, I noticed that too. But I believe Mother and 'Aunt' – oh, why do I have to say that? – Sarah met when Mother made Amelia her first dresses. She had to get some really expensive material, but 'Aunt' Sarah paid her well… Anyway, they have been keeping in touch ever since. But I think that 'Aunt' Sarah doesn't like us because we're – we're – well, kind of poor. Oh, nevermind, it's a silly thought, I can't imagine who would be prejudiced against poor people"

"Oh." I only understood half of what she said. She couldn't read or write, and I only wished I could read! I don't know where she gets her vocabulary, but it's certainly better than mine!

Then Emma said, "At least try to get along, and also try not to lead them into thinking how obedient you are."

"How obedient I am? Me?"

"Yes."

"What about yourself? ** You're** being so nice to them."

"No, I'm just being polite."

I sighed, frustrated.

"But anyway, you need to be more careful and polite so they won't suspect anything." Emma said.

"Fine. I'll try."

There was a short silence.

"Elisa?"

"Huh?" I replied sleepily.

"What kind of guys do you like? I'm just wondering… you know, because of the way Amelia looked at Lou…"

"Well, cute foreign guys are awesome… remember those guys from Aythoria that came here a while ago? Wow, they were hot!"

"Elisa, I was talking about qualities of their personalities."

"Oh. Um, cute, being from Aythoria is a bonus…"

"Elisa!" Emma giggled.

"Okay. Okay. Let's see… brave, gentle, kind, strong, tall, can think on his feet, the kind of guy that loves you for who you are, not the way you look. Yeah, that sounds like the perfect guy. How about you, Emma?"

"I think your list is wonderful. Just one more thing to add: intelligent."

"Ah."

We paused, both picturing our own perfect guy in our minds.

"Well then, good night, Emma."

"Good night, Elisa."


	6. Elisa's Secret Revealed

"**O**h no! No way! I won't do it!" I screamed at Emma. I couldn't believe it. Mother had told us to show Amelia and Robert around the town (as if there was much to show them anyway...)!

"Don't yell at me! Do you think I want to do this? It's Mother's orders!" Emma shouted back.

"What are your mother's orders?" Amelia stepped outside of the house, where Emma and I were bickering.

"None of your business," I mumbled.

"We would like to show you around Kent. Would you like that?" Emma asked quickly.

"Of course, Emma. I'll get my purse."

"What do you need a purse f-"

"We'll get the horses while you do that. Could Robert come, also?" Emma nudged me to go to the farm, and I felt like screaming at her again.

Amelia said, "I'll ask him."

Then she walked quickly inside.

I called for Moonlight, and rode him the rest of the way to the barn. I took out Elfian, Halo, and Ginger. I was so used to riding bareback, that I forgot to put saddles on the horses, but Emma reminded me.

"Do you think every girl and boy rides bareback? Most people get really sore riding bareback!" Emma had exclaimed, coming into the barn to help me.

I muttered under my breath that only people who can't even serve their own dinner without servants and people who eat more than two tons of food per meal get sore, but I did it anyway.

A minute later Amelia and Robert appeared. They seemed to be dressed as if they were going to the annual Krryian ball or something. I found out later that these were their regular clothes. Again, Amelia made a comment about our dresses.

"You know, people in Frell would think you two were my servants." She said, observing our everyday clothing, which was a plain blue dress (for Emma) and a plain green dress (for me).

"You mean **our** servants," Robert put in.

"Whatever. Emma, where is the carriage? You only got out the horses." Amelia was completely ignoring me. I liked it much better that way.

"I told you we'd ride the horses," Emma said, rather impatient to go. I could sense that her politeness was slightly strained now.

"Oh." Amelia and Robert exchanged glances, and I could almost feel them saying to each other, "Only servants don't use a carriage to get around."

I let out an impatient and exasperated sigh. "All right, we'll get the carriage since you two don't know how to ride. But that will mean that one of the adults will have to come."

Amelia turned on me, and hissed, "If you can ride a horse, then why can't you manage a carriage? If you're so smart, go get the carriage for us."

I was slightly taken aback, but I said just as coldly as she did, "Fine. I can drive the carriage, Your Majesty."

I made a rather mocking bow, and stormed away to get the carriage, or at least the ancient piece of wooden junk that we called a carriage.

It didn't take that long for me to hitch Ginger and Halo up to the carriage (I never wanted Moonlight to draw a carriage).

"There." I said, opening the carriage door and ignoring the scowls from Amelia and Robert, who were looking at the state of our carriage. "Are you happy now?"

She smiled at me. "Yes, I'm fine, thank you." Then she called to Emma, who was standing uncomfortably beside the carriage, "Come on, Emma. Let's get in the carriage with Robert."

As Amelia began to step into the carriage, the old step wobbled slightly. I grinned. "Oh, right. Amelia, by the way, the step is a little shaky."

She ignored this comment and climbed into the carriage with dignity. After they went in I started to go get Flora, but Amelia said, "Oh, no, Elisa. You will drive the carriage."

"Really Amelia, I can get Flora-"

"No, Emma. Elisa is going to do it."

I did not want to give up so easily, so she wouldn't become suspicious. I glared at her and said, "I don't have to."

Amelia smiled coldly. "Yes, you do. Right now, in fact."

I stood their, boiling inside. But then I felt the pain of the curse, and walked slowly to the front of the carriage.

I really didn't have a clue as to how to drive, but I thought, how hard could it be? I found out that it could be very difficult. At least, it was difficult at first.

The worst part about it was that Flora had come out before I was going to get started. I had no idea how to explain.

"Flora, I can handle this," I said as she rushed over. "Don't worry. I want to get used to this, because if you and Father can, why can't I?"

Well, that was a dumb excuse. Obviously, Flora sensed something more, but she nodded, said nothing, and walked away.

I flicked the reins hurriedly. The horses knew I had no idea what to do, and they made it a great pain in the neck (my magic with animals was not at its strongest point right then). I could hear Amelia talking to Emma as I fiddled with the reins and tried to coax the horses into listening to me (the best way for me to do that was to speak in Elfian).

"Now Emma, it isn't your fault that she is so rude and inconsiderate. She must learn to be nice to her friends."

"But Amelia, you can't make her do this. How do you think she feels?"

"How should I know how she feels? Besides, she needs to learn some manners. This is the perfect way. But I am very surprised she is so obedient. She is rude, but obedient. She is nice that way, don't you think so?"

"No."

I could tell Emma was getting mad and uncomfortable. I would've tried to knock the carriage over if Emma weren't inside. No, I never said I was nice.

"Emma, have you ever had Elisa do things for you, like a servant?"

"No, of course not." Emma said quickly.

"Oh." There was a short pause, then Amelia spoke. "Well, I think I know something very extraordinary about her." Amelia lowered her voice to a whisper, so neither Robert (who was sitting right next to them) nor I could hear.

"Are you crazy? Why would you think that!" I heard Emma yell suddenly.

"Well, even so, Emma, do you think I could-" again Amelia's voice dropped to a whisper.

"You **are** crazy! She wouldn't do such a thing to save her life!"

"Do what?" I asked, not looking into the carriage.

"Be my servant." Amelia said flatly.


	7. The Test and A Few Moments of Freedom

"What?! Are you joking? Like Emma said, I wouldn't do such a thing if my life depended on it!" I shouted.

"Well, **I** could use a servant." Robert put in suddenly (he did this at odd intervals). "Amelia has five at home. I only have-" he paused, then said, "four. I only have four. It's not fair. I should have another one."

"Then take your sister. She'd be a wonderful servant. Maybe a slave would be better," I muttered.

We had reached the town by now, and we got out. I tied the horses to a post, letting them graze, then turned to Amelia.

"Well, would you like a tour?" I snapped.

"Yes, I would. Take me on a tour, Elisa. You shall be the tour guide."

I quivered with rage. My voice shook as I said, "Fine. Let's start by looking at the jewelry shops, shall we?"

I walked quickly, so they had to jog to keep up. And I talked fast, too.

"Here's Mr. Ladin's shop, he sells the finest necklaces and earrings in Kent, Miss Kathryn's rings and earrings. And here's the Market Square—"

"Slow down, Elisa!" Amelia panted.

I decided to play along, so I slowed down so much that Amelia whined, "Oh, come now, walk faster."

So I did, and they, once again, had to jog to keep up with me. All the while I kept talking, sometimes going into the shops, saying hello, then leaving just as abruptly as I had gotten in. Emma, all the while, was giggling uncontrollably, bringing up the rear.

Amelia got sick of this and shouted, "Stop giving us the tour! Emma, will you please show us around?"

Emma stopped laughing and shrugged, then obeyed. Now we walked slower, and Emma took us into the zoo (a very small zoo, with only a few of the small species of dragons and other creatures), showed them the shops, the orchard and the vineyards, until Amelia said she wanted to buy something at the jewelry shop.

On our way there, Amelia pulled me down a small street before I could even think about jerking away.

"I want to see if this works." Amelia said, more to herself than me. It was almost as if I was a jack-in-the-box that she wanted to try and see if the "jack" would pop out. I was an "it" for the moment. She let go of me and commanded, "Stay here until I call you."

I tried to move, but I felt pain rise through my chest. I stayed where I was. Amelia walked towards Emma and Robert, who were waiting. I could see Emma looking very pale and nervous. She knew what was going on.

"Elisa, come here." Amelia ordered.

I stayed there, thinking, _This is it. I must break the curse now!_ But the intensity of the pain rose. Beads of sweat appeared on my forehead. I walked quickly towards Amelia. She smiled evilly.

"Thank you, Elisa." Amelia turned around, looking smug, and started walking towards Mr. Ladin's jewelry shop. Robert followed. But Emma and I stayed where we are.

"Well, my life of misery has begun and will only end when she ends or leaves." I sighed, furious, and on the edge of tears. I couldn't believe what was happening to me.

Emma put her arm around me, and I thought, at least she will be able to help me, and I felt like I was younger than she, although I was not. She seemed different, older, and more mature.

"I know how you feel, and how you will feel." She said quietly.

"No, you don't. You really don't," I said, and pulled away from her. She let go.

"Elisa! Emma! Come here!" Amelia shouted from inside the jewelry store.

We sighed, and went into the large store. An elf, Mr. Ladin, was at the counter. He was the only elf who worked in a store in all of Kent. This was the first time we came into his shop, for although we would stop and say hello sometimes, we usually did not have enough money or the time to stop and look at jewels.

Amelia was holding quite a few diamonds, ruby and emerald necklaces and earrings that gnomes had dug up near Gnome Falls. Robert was just looking around.

The elf smiled at us, his eyes gleaming (as all elves' eyes do), and began to speak Elfian.

"Welcome. I have never seen you two in here before, but I am glad you are here. Nor have I seen **these** two before, and I am not sure what to think of a young lady and young man who cannot speak Elfian." The elf jerked his head towards Robert and Amelia with an indignant air.

"They're friends of the family. Don't mind them." Emma said briskly in Elfian, then turned to Amelia and spoke in Kyrrian. (It amazed me how fast she could speak one language, and then transition to another. I couldn't do that, and I still can't.) "You called?"

I noticed Emma's tone was not nearly as friendly as before.

"I can't understand him. I can tell he speaks Elfian, but he refuses to speak Kyrrian to us," Amelia said, pouting.

"Too bad," I said, and went to leave, but then I heard Amelia order me, "Speak Elfian to him, and tell him that I will pay no more than 650 KCs for all of this."

My mouth dropped open at "650 KCs", for that was quite a lot of money to people from Kent. I spoke to the elf, and _his_ jaw dropped, and he accepted the offer readily.

"This is such a nice little town. Now let's go. I'm tired, and I'm hungry. Get the carriage, Elisa." Amelia waved her hand, and I left. I didn't feel like resisting at the moment. I would do that later.

**A**fter we got in the carriage and started to go, a dragon flew overhead, but was not intending to drop down. It was going to Dragon Cove after a nice meal of ogres from Kashanti Forest (the Orgese word for "ogre"), a forest a few miles away from Kent. He swooped overhead, brushed the tree line, and soared back into the sky, showing off his glistening scales.

Amelia screamed. Emma and I laughed.

"What's so funny, Elisa? I don't see anything funny about a dragon who could eat you in one gulp," Amelia said shakily.

"You're the one who's funny! Dragons haven't eaten people ever since I was six!" I laughed again. (After my dragon experience, the dragons became afraid of humans and our "Mirrors", or the diamonds. So they vowed never to eat another human or any of the human's livestock. So far they haven't.)

I couldn't see Amelia from my perch on the carriage, but I could almost hear her ruffle up like she had known that all along and shake away her fear. I had made the first blow of revenge (for all she had done to Emma and I so far), even though it was a little one, and not on purpose. We were reaching home, and I could get away from Amelia for a while, and maybe gallop Moonlight.

My thoughts drifted, and I slowly drew the carriage up, untied the horses, and led them into the barn. After feeding them, I took Moonlight out. He pawed the ground, knowing exactly what I was going to do. We rode away from Amelia, Aunt Sarah and Robert, away from chores, away from my obedience, and towards a few moments of freedom.


	8. Amelia's New Servant and Ladyinwaiting

Sorry I haven't kept up with this… I was on vacation and I couldn't get to my stupid computer files for this story. Hope I didn't make anyone who's reading this (which is like one person) waiting! Oh, just FYI: Yes, the money **is **"KC"s on purpose, because now Charmount is king! Thought I'd let you know. Hooray! The eighth chapter! **NOTE: I had to add the end to the seventh chapter (stupid computer), so those of you who have already read the seventh chapter, you're going to have to read the end of it before reading this. It's not very long or important, but I thought I'd let you know. **I'm very depressed. I need reviews! I don't care if you don't like it; just give me ways to improve it (or compliment it, I don't care… although compliments are always appreciated)! PLEASE REVIEW! Enough rambling. Here it is.

tayk: Your review made my day (YAY)! Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!

**I** woke up the next morning, very early, to Amelia standing over me, mid-way through "Wake up!"

I sat bolt upright, making Amelia jump backwards. Emma had heard the command, too, and she sat up (if it is not directed at one of us, then we both respond to the command).

"I am sorry, Emma, you may go back to sleep. I need to ask your sister something," Amelia said in a sweet voice.

It wasn't an order, so Emma did not obey it. She asked in a tired voice, "And just what do you need to ask my sister?"

Amelia smiled, but did not answer. "Go back to sleep Emma, dear."

Now, this is a hard command to obey if you can't get to sleep immediately. However, it was early enough that Emma could lie down, close her eyes, and fall asleep almost immediately, though reluctantly.

Amelia looked slightly surprised. "Well, Elisa, I-"

"Go away. I'm trying to sleep. Unless you want this bed now and I can return to my own?" I growled.

She grinned evilly. "Get my clothes out for when I wake up in the morning-"

"You already are awake," I pointed out. I wasn't going to make this easy.

"You will not speak until I say you may speak, understand? Now, as I was saying, you will get my red dress with the rubies on it, and lay it out neatly at the bottom of my bed. When everyone is down at breakfast, you will make my bed **neatly **and wash my nightgown **thoroughly**, then hang it out to dry. After that, you will wait in my room until I come back up to give you more instructions."

Usually, I can find loopholes in any order. But I could not find anything where I could mess up her beautiful plan. She really knew how to order people around! Then I thought, _Why didn't she bring her own servant's down here? She could use them!_

Amelia seemed to have read my mind. "I do not take servants with me for short visits. But for now, **you** are my servant."

_More like a slave_, I thought.

She continued, "You need to learn some manners, Elisa. This is the perfect way."

I rolled my eyes and said in sarcastic astonishment, "Really? Wow, Amelia, that's great."

"Isn't it? I'm glad you think so. Now, I shall go back to bed. Do what I asked you to do. You will not go back to sleep this morning," Amelia strode out of the room, leaving me alone to think about how it feels being a slave of a person who didn't understand sarcasm.

I decided not to wake Emma up, because that wouldn't solve anything, since I couldn't speak anyway. So I obeyed her commands, and waited until she got up to continue. After two minutes I was bored. I couldn't resist the temptation, so I poked Amelia on the shoulder hard several times until she woke up. I grinned. "It's been almost 10 minutes. Are you getting up yet so that I may continue to obey your wishes?"

She gave me a venomous look. "Stand over in the corner of the room until I wake up, Elisa. And don't move from that spot until then."

I had expected it. So I did as I was told, against my will.

After about an hour of immobility, Amelia yawned, stretched luxuriously and said, "Put my slippers on my feet, Elisa."

I took my time walking over to her bed, stretching sore and stiff muscles. I hastily shoved the slippers on her feet, not trying at all to be gentle. _Disgusting,_ I thought.

"Now hand me my dress."

_It's two inches from your hand, Amelia_, I thought.

"Do it now!"

Then Robert got up, stared at the two of us, and then walked out of the room. Emma burst in.

"Amelia, honestly, she's not a slave that you can control like some sort of puppet! I knew I should have stayed awake and seen what you were going to do to her! Now leave her alone and let her come downstairs for breakfast!" Emma shouted.

"Emma, please don't shout. She is merely helping me because she wants to. She says she feels like she wasn't a good host yesterday, and wants to make it up to me," Amelia lied in a coaxing voice. Emma would never fall for it. She knew me.

"Be serious, Amelia! She is not like that and you know it!"

"Well, it's too late. I've already given the command, and she has to obey. Don't you Elisa?" Amelia turned to me, and I glared at her. Then she turned back to Emma. "Now wait for me until I'm dressed, then we'll go downstairs together for breakfast. Oh, and it would be _so_ nice if you wouldn't tell anyone about this."

Emma gave a deep, long sigh, but said, "Fine. I'll wait for you, but this servant thing has to stop, or I **will** tell! I suppose she told you that you can't talk and you can't have breakfast?"

I nodded. Emma opened her mouth to yell again, but promptly closed it and said nothing.

"Continue with your work, Elisa. Emma, I'm ready. Let's go."

"But-"

Amelia shooed the annoyed Emma out of the room, then left herself. It was now my turn to give the deep, long sigh. Then I made her bed, rather sloppily (my version of neat is pathetic, as Emma informs me), and washed her nightgown (not so thoroughly as anyone would've liked, but enough for the curse to leave me alone). I didn't dare go downstairs past the dining room to hang her gown out to dry, so I stuck it on pins, hanging out the window. It was fine with me, and worked for the curse.

When Amelia came up after breakfast, she inspected her bed and nightgown.

"Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Elisa, a good servant makes the bed perfectly. Redo it until it is perfect to me. Then wash my nightgown again, then you shall do your regular morning chores."

"Amelia…" Emma stormed into the room. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Emma, stop it!" Amelia whined.

Emma stopped dead in her tracks. A light seemed to go on in Amelia's head. "Emma, you obey commands, too, don't you?"

"And just what makes you think that?" Emma asked, hands on her hips.

"You stopped when I told you to," Amelia smiled. "Pick up that shoe on the floor, Emma."

I could see Emma struggling, but after a few seconds, she obeyed.

"Fascinating," Amelia murmured.

"Amelia, it's not like some miracle, or something," Emma said hastily, slightly nervous now.

"I now have two servants," Amelia gave her widest smile; a smile a small child would have if given a treat. "No, no, not two servants. Emma, you look too…" Amelia paused. We both waited, dumbfounded. "…too royal and elegant to be a servant. Too polite. And you hold yourself higher than a servant would. Yes, you shall be my lady-in-waiting. Much better for you, don't you think? Yes, I like it much better…"

"No, I don't like it at all! If you'll excuse me, I'm going to have a word with my Mother." Emma said quickly.

"Oh no you won't! You will not tell your mother, father, your brother or your cook about this. Neither of you will talk to anyone about this except, if you must, you may talk between yourselves."

There was a long silence. "Now," Amelia continued elegantly, "Emma, massage my shoulders. They ache so! And Elisa, continue with what I told you to do before. I don't want a **servant** touching me!"

I rolled my eyes and muttered, "This _servant_ wouldn't _want_ to touch you anyway."

Emma growled at her in Elfian, "Curse you, Amelia!" I blinked. To be cursed (in Elfian) was a terrible thing (so much so that I'd rather not give the words that the Elfian language uses). Emma was really annoyed. She had only done that once before, when Peter (one of the "town boys") smacked Emma's horse, making Ginger rear, almost throw Emma off and gallop away in fright with poor Emma clinging to her back. You could hear her for a long time cursing Peter in Elfian, until she finally got control of her horse.

Then Emma began the massage while Amelia stared at her, surprised at the sudden outburst in a different language. Our chores then truly began.

That night, tired and sore from obeying all kinds of tasks, I crawled into bed. Emma was already there, because a lady-in-waiting needed her sleep (the way Amelia put it), but she was sitting up in her bed.

"Well, that wasn't too bad, was it?" Emma said brightly. Her voice was strained.

"Oh, no, not at all, Emma, lady-in-waiting of Amelia," I said sarcastically.

Emma laughed. "All right, it was bad. I really didn't expect her to, well, to treat us that way."

We laid in thought, then I asked Emma, "Want to have some fun tomorrow and confuse the heck out of Amelia?"

Emma laughed a little. "I don't know… Well, a little fun won't hurt. Let's do it."

I sighed. "So, what else can we do?"

Emma shrugged. "Nothing but count the days until they leave, I suppose."

I groaned. "Oh, joy."


	9. Amelia and Lou?

Grr… darn homework and reports and studying for midterms… anyway, I'm finally updating. I don't really like the beginning of this chapter… I had to add to it since there was a gap in my original story… anyway, I don't like the beginning. I like the rest of it though! Different kind of twist… Oh, and I divide things by making the first letter of the paragraph bold. Not the greatest divider, but I'm not that creative. Just FYI.

HottStuffMelv: YAY! You made my day, too! THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEW!

**T**he next day was the same, and so was the next day, and the next day. I would wake up before dawn every morning, and go to bed shortly after everyone else in the house. It was a nightmarish routine.

After a week, though, something else happened. Robert walked into the room when I was scrubbing Amelia's shoes. He stopped and stared at me for the longest time. Amelia didn't notice. She was dictating a letter as Emma wrote.

Something registered in Robert's eyes (you could tell because not much goes on behind those eyes, so when something did go on, it was a big deal).

"Elisa, my mom wants me to do laundry. Do it for me." He ordered.

I just stared at him blankly. Amelia stopped dictating her letter, and towered over Robert.

"And just what makes you think that you can tell _dear_ Elisa what to do?" She asked in her sweet voice, emphasizing the "dear" a little too much.

He shrugged. "You do it all the time. I want to see if she'll do it for me."

The curse telling me to do his laundry screamed in my head. The pain began. As Amelia and Robert continued to argue, I began to shake. I couldn't bare it much longer, but I **couldn't** obey that stupid order from Robert! I was about to keel over, so I was going to do the stupid laundry. However, Robert stopped me.

"Elisa, don't do my laundry. We have decided that I will get you to do stuff for me for half of the day, and Amelia will get you to do stuff for her the other half. Right now, it is Amelia's half of the day. Meet me by the horse barn when the sundial's shadow hits the three.

I was furious that we were being fought over and "shared" like some toy. It was disgusting.

I met Robert at the barn, where he began to give me a series of absolutely ridiculous chores, such as trick riding on Moonlight, talking in another language, and other idiotic chores that were a waste of my time. So, of course, I made it hard for him, but he always had something else for me to do. As soon as it was time for dinner, he forgot about me and I rushed to Moonlight.

"Let's take a ride, shall we?" I whispered, and he nickered softly. I jumped onto his back, and we started out at a walk, warming up, but then after some trotting and walking we both couldn't stand warming up any longer, and galloped away from the quickly sinking sun. Away from chores, away from Amelia and Robert, away from being ordered around… far, far away… for the moment.

**I**t seemed that Amelia, Aunt Sarah, and Robert were going to stay forever. But then I heard that they would leave in one week after being in Kent for over a month! I was overjoyed. I wouldn't have to be a slave anymore, and Emma wouldn't have to be a "lady-in-waiting." For the whole long month I had tried to find any time I could to ride Moonlight for an hour or two of freedom. And so it went on, until the final week.

It was about three days before my tormentors were to leave. I was off on one of my gallops with Moonlight again, after obeying Robert's crazy commands.

Lou was in the orchard (for once, since he was always with the centaurs), but he was not alone.

I began to make Moonlight quietly trot past, not wanting to intrude, when I heard what Lou said.

"Amelia, I would like to ask you something."

There was something lovey-dovey about his voice that I didn't like. Plus he was talking to Amelia, which I also did not like.

"What is it, Lou?"

Now **that** was something new! I had never heard Amelia talk that way before. I was getting worried, so I kept listening, and pulled Moonlight to a halt.

"Amelia, will you – will you marry me?"

I almost fell off of Moonlight. I begged and prayed in my mind for Amelia to say no. (When Ella and Charmount became Rulers of Kyrria, a law was passed that women had the right to choose whom they were to marry. In this case, I really disliked this rule.) There was a surprised silence.

"Oh, Lou!" (There was a short pause. The tension rose. She was going to say, 'Lou, how dare you ask me such a thing' in her high-pitched, lofty voice, I knew it! She wouldn't _stand_ marrying the son of a poor man!) "Of course I will, my darling!"

I didn't want to hear anything else. It was too overwhelming. I dug my knees into Moonlight, who took off immediately. My only thought was why in all of Kyrria would Amelia marry a poor man (I pictured her marrying an old noble who she only liked for his riches), and even worse, my **brother**? I tried desperately to hold my head high as I passed them, and I tried to hold back my tears.

"**S**o that explains the long nights away! And she said she was going to 'check on the centaurs.' _Sure_ she was seeing the centaurs, but she probably didn't pay any attention to **them**!" Emma shouted in disbelief.

We were lying on our beds that very night, when I told Emma the whole story.

"Well, we'll make the best of it. Besides, if Amelia is hovering over Lou all the time…"

"Or if Lou is hovering over Amelia…"

"Then we can get away from Amelia for as long as we want!"

Emma sprang out of bed in excitement. "You're right! But…" She lay back down. "But there's Robert."

"Oh. Well, who cares about him! He won't bother us, will he?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

There was a silence. Our hope was fading.

"Well, um, we can, uh…"

"Don't you get it? We can do nothing!" Emma sighed, frusterated, and slowly sank back into her bed.

"He probably won't bother us, though. He kind of follows Amelia's lead, and if she quits ordering us, he'll quit ordering us."

"Maybe."

Emma did not sound a bit hopeful. I fell silent, my hopes gone, and then I fell asleep after mumbling to Emma, "I can't believe Lou fell in love with that – that horror."

**I**n the morning, Lou and Amelia announced their engagement. Father was home, and he seemed more pleased than all the rest of us combined (probably because his son was marrying the daughter of a rich lady). Flora (being polite) was happy for them, but I didn't think she was really and truly happy. Mother was pleased and she "wept for joy" as she put it. Aunt Sarah was smiling faintly, but something about her expression told me that she was not very happy (for some reason). Robert looked like Robert. His face showed no expression.

"We will be wed on the day we leave!" Lou exclaimed, grasping Amelia's hand, who looked at him in pure love (which _really _scared me).

Everyone fell silent, confused.

"Because," Amelia began to add quickly, "I thought that maybe Lou, Emma and Elisa could come back with us to Frell for a time so Lou could find a job and we could live on our own. And Emma and Elisa will be able to stay with their brother for a while."

NOW everyone was gasping and saying "what a wonderful idea" and all that junk until I felt sick. I was going to LIVE with Amelia at HER house! It was like a nightmare come true!

"Father," Emma shouted above the noise, "we probably should stay home and all, because, well, because the horses and centaurs needed to be tended to, and, um, the house needs-"

"Oh, nonsense!" Father said, laughing. "Don't worry about the farm. We have Gilbert and Peter to take after the horses and centaurs. And the house will be fine with your mother and Flora."

"And what about Moonlight?" I asked quickly. "I can't leave him!"

"You could take him with us." Amelia said, before my Father could say anything. "We have a villa not very far east of Frell. He could stay there, and you could visit him when you want."

Father nodded. Why wasn't anyone asking us if Emma and I wanted to do this? Did they really think that we were thrilled about this idea? I couldn't say anything in front of Amelia, especially after being ordered not to complain about her to my family and Flora.

Emma and I tried everything. But there was always an excuse for our excuse. Finally, we gave in, and fell silent. We were doomed.


	10. It's Gonna Be a Long Three Months

**T**he day came to leave. And the wedding came. Emma and I found a way to get away from the wedding banquet (we wanted to see our brother get married, but we didn't want to stay to get ordered about). We said we were going to pack, and that was sort of true. We were taking our favorite horses: Moonlight and Ginger. We rode around in silence.

"Well, this is it. Our last day here for three whole months." Emma broke the silence.

"Yeah." I muttered.

There was another long silence.

"I still can't believe Lou actually likes Amelia." I finally blurted out.

Emma laughed. But then she frowned. "Elisa, I don't think that's very nice."

Again, Emma seemed older and wiser. I felt like I had shrunk, and, not for the first time, I felt very immature.

"Well, maybe we could stay at the villa the whole time, whatever that is, right?" I asked hopefully after a long silence.

"Oh, Elisa, can't you see? It's hopeless. Just face it and live with it." Emma said impatiently, like she would to a younger sister who didn't understand anything.

There was another silence.

"Emma, Elisa! Where are you? We need to leave now! Come here!" The distinct, high-pitched order from Amelia came to us from the orchard. I sighed, and we cantered off.

Our two trunks (one each) were loaded into the carriage and so were the millions of trunks of Lou, Amelia, Robert, and Aunt Sarah.

"What is this, two trunks for three months? How little!" Aunt Sarah remarked primly.

"Well, it is only three months, Sarah." Mother said hastily. Aunt Sarah glared at us both. It was obvious to me now that she didn't like us. Mother hugged us. Then we ran to Flora and hugged her. I was going to miss home, and more than I could ever imagine.

We loaded into the carriage, and off we went. Moonlight followed beside the carriage, not attached to anything, which showed how much he loved me. Ginger was tied to the back, and she trotted along behind (Emma's "magic" was not nearly as strong as mine with animals, since she did not spend a lot of time with them. Her gift was more towards carving.). Amelia was talking non-stop to Lou, and Lou was listening with complete interest in every word. Robert was staring at them, and then sometimes he would stare at us with a horrible sneer on his face. Emma and I just sat there, swimming in our own thoughts. Finally I got bored and decided to listen to the chatterbox sitting next to me. (I think Emma had decided the same thing, because she was already staring at them.)

"Oh, and Lou, you'll absolutely love our house. It has 20 rooms, and my room's the biggest room. We have a large parlor, and a fireplace in every room, and a beautiful yard, oh, you'll simply love it!" She exclaimed, and then added, as an afterthought, "Oh, Emma and Elisa will have the second best room in our house."

She looked at us and gave an evil smile. Lou, who was annoyingly oblivious at times, did not see her evil smile. Then she began to talk more about the villa (which I found out was sort of like a very big farm with the owner's summer home) and house. I hadn't liked the sound of "second best rooms." It was going to be a long three months.

**W**e arrived late at night. Moonlight and Ginger were led away, to the villa, I supposed; even so, I didn't like having Moonlight so far away from me.

Lou was shown to Amelia's room, which was the size of five regular rooms put together! Then, after Lou had gone back downstairs for a drink and had said goodnight to Emma and I, Amelia turned on us.

"**I'll** show you to your rooms," she turned to a servant standing next to her. "I would like a bottle of the best wine for Lou and I. Get it quickly. Honestly, I don't know why Lou went to get his own drink. His servant could have gotten it for him." As she talked she began to walk up the next flight of stairs. We did not follow.

She spun around and ordered, "Come, follow me."

We obeyed reluctantly. Then I asked, "Wait, **his** servant?"

"Oh, yes," Amelia said, not looking back.

She led us up two flights of stairs. We seemed to be in the attic, which had many cots lined along the wall, then I realized-

"This is the servants' quarters!" I screamed.

"Be quiet. I don't want you to speak again until I tell you to. Your guest room is _behind_ the servants' quarters." Amelia said firmly. She opened a door at the end of the attic. "Oh, and in the morning, don't tell Lou about this. We wouldn't want him to worry."

I was silent (of course, I had to be). Emma, I could see, was boiling with rage. I knew that very soon she would explode. She did, but not until Amelia had left, _locked_ the door, and ordered us not to shout or scream or make any loud noise until after everyone was awake in the morning.

That was the last straw. Emma had quietly taken this kind of treatment at our house, counting down the days until they'd leave and she'd be free, but now there were three more months of this torture, and she couldn't take it. Emma talked, which was as close as the curse would allow her to screaming or shouting.

"I can't stand this!" She fumed, looking around the tiny, dimly lit room. I silently agreed. She stared at me, as if about to scream and go against the order.

"And-and you. You can't talk just because of a stupid order! I hate, I just hate this curse!" Then, feeling very helpless, Emma covered her face, laid on her bed, and cried herself to sleep.

I stared at her for a long time. I never knew she was like that. I never knew that inside was her real self, all chained up. But now the chains were broken, and I felt that she would be very different the next morning.


	11. This is Not a Nightmare

I'M SO HAPPY! I GOT MORE REVIEWS! Please keep reviewing! To all of you who reviewed: You made my day!!! Anyway, this chapter reveals the true character of Aunt Sarah… I think.

greeniegurl101: THANK YOU!

Lela-of-Bast: THANK YOU! Yeah, Amelia and Robert were actually supposed to be a little different, but after the first couple of chapters with them they were just like Hattie and Olive, so I gave up and kept them fairly close to the same personalities as Hattie and Olive.

dancrchick: THANK YOU! Um, I can't really give you an estimate, but I know it will be pretty long. It **is** kinda drawn out, so I'll try to skip some parts that aren't really necessary to try to make it less drawn out. K?

**T**he next day, after breakfast was long over, and Emma had almost screamed her lungs out (since everyone was awake, and I still couldn't speak), a servant knocked on the door.

"Excuse me, miss, but Amelia said that you aren't allowed out yet, and to be silent until she unlocks the door. She said she was only speaking to Emma." Then the servant left.

Emma's face turned into a deep red, but she did not speak.

Finally, when it was almost lunchtime, Amelia opened the door.

As soon as she did, Emma began to scream at her. For a moment, Amelia said nothing, surprised that Emma was talking this way. Then, she slapped Emma across the face. Now it was Emma's turn to be surprised.

That got me mad. I still could not talk, but my hands could still work.

_SLAP!_ Amelia looked at me with hurt, shock, and pure hate.

I've always wanted to do that. I mouthed, and sneered. Next time I'd definitely punch her, I thought to myself.

Amelia's shoulders went up, and she said shakily, "Follow me."

Down the stairs, she said without any shaking, "Lou has left to look for a job, and I told mother that there is something I wanted to show her. And I'll have to talk about this."

Aunt Sarah was waiting for us in the parlor. Now **that** was a parlor! Anyway, she and Robert were waiting, rather impatiently.

"Yes, what is it, Amelia?" Aunt Sarah asked.

"Mother, I have found something out about Emma and Elisa."

Aunt Sarah was immediately interested (probably to tell the whole world what Amelia was going to tell her).

"Don't you dare." Emma growled.

Amelia just smiled. "Oh, don't worry. I will."

I wanted to punch Amelia, to get out this rage that pulsed through my body. I raised my fist, and just about to throw the punch, a hand came out of nowhere and stopped me. A tall, hooded figure stood over me.

"I suggest," he said quietly, "that you don't do that."

I just stood there, staring at him stupidly, and then hastily jerked my hand out of his. He had some sort of accent that I couldn't quite place at the moment.

"How **dare **you even **try** to harm my daughter!" Aunt Sarah roared at me. As she bore down on me, I stood quietly, my face expressionless. What kind of punishment could she possibly give me? She wouldn't do anything, right? She was a friend to my mother and father, right?

A stinging blow across my face answered my questions. I refused to cry out in pain, and continued to show no emotion. This whole thing was just a nightmare… only a nightmare…

"Now, as I was saying," Amelia went on as if absolutely nothing had happened, "they obey every command, although you can't say please. It has to be an order. Like this: Elisa, take two steps towards my brother."

I stayed put. The pain started. This was not a nightmare. The pain from the curse was all too real. Then Amelia said, "It takes them a little while. She'll do it."

I glared at her, and finally took two steps towards her brother. I still couldn't talk, or I would have said, "You know, I can do that on my own without an order."

"Now," Amelia turned on Emma. "Emma, spin around once, then take one step towards Robert."

Emma obeyed without even trying to struggle, trembling with rage.

"You see, Mother?" Amelia smiled sweetly.

Aunt Sarah stood up. She seemed to have shaken off her anger towards me (a little). "Well, it looks like you'll have to work to earn your keep in this house. I don't want poor girls living in my house without working to live here. Lisa!" She rang a bell. A servant entered.

"Yes, Madam?"

"Give these girls suitable servants' clothing." She turned to the hooded figure, who, throughout this conversation, had been standing in the corner, silently watching. "Thank you for stopping this girl from harming my daughter, Jonathan. You're here about the horses, right?"

The hooded figure nodded.

Robert leapt to his feet and whined, "Why can't they be my servants, Mother? It's not fair."

"They can be dear." Aunt Sarah said soothingly, turning her attention to her son. "But only one. The other must work around the house." Then she muttered to herself, "I can't believe we even let them come. All the trouble we have to go through! All because Amelia married that pauper."

I was disgusted. We were being bargained over like animals. All because of a curse, and all because we were poor!

(So that was why Aunt Sarah didn't like us, or really didn't seem to like Lou, either!)

Then I began to think about being a servant (a slave is more like it). In the back of my mind I could hear Robert arguing about why he couldn't "have both." I thought, _What would Lou think? Would they tell him? And what about my belongings? Would they take them away? Most of the stuff I don't really care about, but-_

Moonlight! I mouthed, jumping up and down. Moonlight! What will happen to Moonlight?!

"Has she gone dumb?" Aunt Sarah asked, staring at me.

Amelia laughed. "Speak, Elisa."

"Moonlight! You can't take him away from me. You can't! You can't!" I screamed, feeling so much younger than I really was.

Emma hung her head. She had given up.

"Oh, that horse? He's ours now." Amelia said.

"No, no!" I yelled. Everything was blurry. "Let me work more to keep him! I'll do anything!"

"Anything?" Aunt Sarah's bushy eyebrows went up.

I stopped. Would I do anything? Would I?

"Then work in the villa." Aunt Sarah ordered without an answer. "**Away** from your sister. All the servants come here!"

The bell was rung again. About twenty servants entered in the doorway.

Aunt Sarah pointed at Emma. "This will be your new companion. Jonhathan?"

The servant stepped forward.

"Yes, Madam?"

"Take this one with you to the villa. Now!"

"But, Madam, the-"

"**Now**."

Jonathan's huge, strong hand took me by the shoulder and steered me through the crowd of staring servants.

Before I was escorted through the doorway, I heard Amelia say, "No need for two sets of clothing. Elisa's not living here any more."


	12. The Villa

Lela-of-Bast and HottStuffMelv, I just want to let you know how much I needed those two reviews! My stupid mid-terms and projects and homework… anyway, that day was miserable, and then I read your reviews, and I was **so** happy!!! THANK YOU!

PLEASE KEEP MAKING MY DAY AND REVIEWING MY STORY, PEOPLE! I REALLY APPRICIATE THE COMMENTS!!! (PLUS, REVIEWS GET ME MOTIVATED TO UPDATE SOONER, TOO!)

Also, Elisa sleeps in the barn, and so does John. However, they are** NOT **sleeping together, but just in the barn. Just an FYI so no one gets the wrong impression, k?

**J**onathan offered to help me onto a horse, but I shook my head and vaulted on with ease. Jonathan, looking slightly impressed, got on and we galloped off. I didn't even look back at the mansion. I didn't want to.

We trotted through the crowded streets of Frell, then we galloped across a long and deserted field. Neither of us said a word. I was brooding in my own thoughts, picturing Amelia's downfall with joy.

We went through a gate, and then I saw stables for horses and goats and cows, barns for milking cows, pens for sheep and goats and pigs, coops for chickens, everything! I looked further and saw apple orchards and vineyards, and fields where the cows were kept. So this was how they made their living. (Although they didn't work for it, I had a feeling that Aunt Sarah's husband had bought that before he left or died. That way, his wife and children could get their money from selling the fruits and animals, but still be able to live grandly. How pathetic.)

I would have loved to work here **of my own free will**, but without Emma and with a curse, an evil… sister? , and a silent escort, it was just as bad as the mansion.

We both slid off, and the horse was taken to the stables.

"Um, follow me, and- well just follow me." Jonathan stuttered. He seemed to have lost his silent, confident air. He took long strides towards another mansion, smaller than Aunt Sarah's back in the middle of Frell, but still enormous.

"This is their summer home. They'll come here in two months. I don't know where you'll be working now, but, um, would you like something to eat? I uh, heard you guys didn't have breakfast."

I hadn't realized how hungry I was. I nodded. He dug into his pocket and pulled out an apple and a roll.

"It isn't much, but, uh, our lunch break is over." He handed them to me. Although I had only been with him for a short while, I could tell this was definitely not the Jonathan from back at the mansion. We sat down against the warm barn and I ate.

After I had quickly finished the apple and the roll, a man ran up to us.

"The Mistress Amelia has come! She wants you and that girl, John! Quickly!"

John leaped to his feet, grabbed my hand and sprinted off towards the gate. He was very agile, but… why would he want to run to Amelia? I certainly didn't want to! With his other hand he held onto his hood. He didn't want anyone to see what was under there, whatever it was.

Amelia was standing impatiently in the entryway.

"I'm here to make you in charge of this girl while I'm not around, Jonathan. Here's the list of the things she will be doing. Don't be nice about it. She needs to learn some discipline, understand?"

"Yes, Madam."

"I'll come back tomorrow with Lou. I want him to see this place. Goodbye, Elisa." Amelia sneered at me. I glared back and said, "Good-bye,_ Mistress_ Amelia. Have a good time telling a lie to Lou about this!" Then, from rage that had built up for so long, I swore at her with every word I knew in several different languages, including Kyrrian, so she would understand every word. The outburst only lasted thirty seconds or so, but I felt slightly better saying that all to her face. I am usually not one to swear, but no other words could describe my hatred.

John stifled a burst of laughter and surprise.

Amelia ruffled up and said, "Hush. I don't want you to speak again until I say so, you inconsiderate, rude little thing! Maybe that will teach you to never speak to me like that again."

Oh, that **really** taught me a lesson! I didn't care. I didn't have Emma here to speak with anyway. Plus, I didn't know what to think of this boy beside me, when all I could see were his gleaming eyes.

When she left, John coughed. "Well, I guess we can start now. You are doing everything I am, except for a few details. At this time of day the horses are herded into the pasture. That's my, well, our job, now. You can pick a horse to ride. Then we'll do the other things. Wow, she gave you a lot of pointless stuff to do!"

I noticed he did not stutter now. I wondered why, but then I snapped to attention when I heard a high-pitched, angry neigh.

Moonlight. I sprinted towards the neigh, and saw a servant being tossed off Moonlight's back. The servant flew over Moonlight's neck, and landed ten feet away. I was glad that Moonlight had never bucked me off. That servant would be sore in the morning! Five other servants came running. They had ropes, whips, and a halter.

I could not say stop, but I ran to the angry Moonlight, and grabbed the reins. He saw me, and immediately stopped and nuzzled me. My "magic" with animals was working.

The servants stared at me.

I smiled, and took the saddle off his back. Then I took off reins. He would listen to me without them. I hopped on his back, twisted my hands into his silky white mane, and we trotted towards the amazed John.

"You have magic. Like me," he said slowly, stilling staring. I looked at him questioningly. Then he straightened and grabbed a cinnamon-colored horse. He hopped on. The horses were all gathered together, fifty of them, I guessed (I began to wonder how he could herd all these horse alone) at the edge of the field. I knew what to do. We did not need a whip to get them started. John yelled at them, and they began to gallop. The only noise I heard was the thunder of the horses' hooves; it was beautiful. I forgot all of my troubles. I was one with Moonlight, with John, and with all the other horses. I wanted everything to be like this forever. I thought to myself, _maybe working here won't be so bad_. I was wrong… again.

"**N**ow you milk the cows, but only the ones that are on the left side. The others are females and bulls for meat." John said after herding the horses out and a little while later, herding the cows in.

I didn't know how. Of course, I couldn't tell him that, but he showed me, and the cows didn't seem to mind at all and didn't whip their tails in my face or kick the bucket over. There were fifty milking cows, and there were only three other servants milking them. (I found out that it was the apple picking time, so that's why there were so many people here. I also found out that there were only **sixteen** other servants that worked with the animals, including John and, unfortunately now, me. Aunt Sarah probably didn't feel like using more money than she had to.)

I milked so many cows that my fingers were rubbed raw. After that, I herded the goats in from their pens and milked them, too, then put them in their stalls for the night. I had raw skin, and I felt tired and sore. Then a little after midnight, with candle-lit lanterns in our hands, we herded the horses back in for the night. John said he usually herded them in sooner, but no one had ridden any of them that day. Then I had to clean a few of their stalls, and after that my jobs were done.

I had nowhere to sleep. John said he slept in the hayloft, so I had to sleep there too. The other servants had quarters in the mansion. What a coincidence that I was left to sleep in the hayloft.

But that was only the beginning.

The next day I was waked up a little before dawn to herd the cows back out to the fields. I had barely gotten any sleep, and I ached all over. Then we got the goats back out into their pen. After that, I helped with feeding and getting the eggs from the chickens.

I skipped breakfast (on Amelia's orders that I was only to have lunch and dinner with nothing in between for the rest of my stay… what was she trying to do, starve me?). After no breakfast, I fed the horses and the goats. I had a short break, and then we herded the horses into the pasture. That was the only time when I enjoyed my work (it was too late at night for me to enjoy herding them back).

I ate a quick lunch (a hard boiled egg, a roll, a chicken leg, and an apple from John), then another short break, then back to the routine from the other day. During the short break, Amelia came over to show Lou the villa. Amelia saw me leaning against the barn not doing any work, and I could tell she was furious, but she smiled sweetly in Lou's presence.

"Well, look's like my sister has already found the villa," Lou smiled, and hugged me. I hugged him back, enjoying his company.

"Did you and Emma have a fight? I saw her back at the house without you."

I shook my head. I still could not speak.

"That's all? Just a no?" Lou stared at me. "Speak to me, don't just shake your head."

"Yes, that's rude to merely shake your head. Speak to him, Elisa." Amelia added quickly.

"No, Emma didn't want to come." I lied. I wasn't about to tell the truth when Amelia was glaring at me behind Lou's back. (Besides, I didn't want to tell Lou what was really going on, and that his true love was forcing me to be her slave. I figured that with Amelia being his true love, she could do nothing wrong and he wouldn't believe a word I said.)

"Oh." Lou shrugged. "Well, would you like to take me on a tour?"

I didn't know what to say. Then John spoke up (I had forgotten he was watching us).

"I believe that Elisa was going to help me herd the cows in. She seems to like them almost as much as she likes the horses. So she volunteered to help milk the cows."

Lou laughed. "I'm not surprised. May I help?"

"But Lou, you-"

"It's all right, Amelia. I want to."

I mouthed my thanks to John, then I beckoned to Lou to follow John and I.

With Lou there, I felt almost free. Almost. But then after milking the cows, he had to leave. I hugged him, before he stepped into the carriage.

Amelia hissed in my ear, "I'll deal with you later."

Then she too stepped into the carriage, and they drove off.


	13. Four More Months

I made this part less drawn out, otherwise it would take me forever and you would be bored to death (hopefully you're not bored to death **now**, right? _Right?_). So, I made two months fly by in this chapter. Sound good? Hope so!

Oh, and continue reviewing, _please_, because if not I don't know if I'm boring you to death and need to do something different or if you really like it and want me to keep it the way it is! Thanx to all the people who are reviewing and telling me how much they like it!!! It makes me so happy that people like this story!!! Anyway, this is a shorter chapter… just looks longer because of short word conversations and stuff.

Lela-of-Bast: I run to my computer every day, too! And I **love **Jump5 (I don't have all of their albums, though)! That's AWESOME!!!

grins sheepishly before continuing with story :-)

**A** few nights later, long after midnight, John handed me a bunch of grapes before we settled into our hay beds after another exhausting day.

"The Mistress said you couldn't have snacks only in-between lunch and dinner, right?" He asked, and I could feel him grinning at me.

I ate them hungrily.

"Elisa?"

"Hmm?" I asked, stuffing two more grapes in my mouth.

"Do you know how to speak Elfian?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Fluently?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

There was a silence. The grapes were almost finished.

"I think you have some elf blood in you."

I almost choked on the last grape. "John, you have got to be kidding me."

"All right. You think I'm kidding? Speak some Elfian."

I sighed. Then I spoke in Elfian, "I have no elf blood in me, and you are crazy to think so."

"Yes you do have elf blood in you! You have the perfect accent. Plus you have magic with animals like all elves do."

"Thanks, but I'm human, not elf."

There was another silence. I began to fall asleep immediately (I was that tired).

"Elisa?"

"Yes?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

I sat up. "What?"

"Promise not to scream?"

"Why?"

"Just promise me."

"All right, all right, I promise. What is it?"

John looked around to make sure that no one else was watching. Then, he slowly took down his hood.

I blinked, but kept my face expressionless. "So… you're…"

"An elf, I know, I know." John quickly put his hood back up, hiding his pointy ears and flecks of green in his hair.

"And… that's something to scream about?" I asked.

"Well, um, maybe… Oh, I don't know."

There was a short silence.

"So that's why you have that accent, and your eyes gleam!" I exclaimed randomly. Then I paused. "I'm stupid."

"No, I don't think you're stupid. Anyway, you must be part elf. Your eyes gleam a little, too."

"I doubt it."

John grunted, and stretched out.

"Oh, Elisa?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't tell anybody about this, all right?"

"Okay."

And I was just about to fall asleep, when John asked another question.

"Elisa, can you read?"

"What? Oh, no. But I'd really like to," I replied, not really paying attention to the conversation anymore.

"I can teach you. All elves should know how to read."

I shot out of the hay, wide-awake. "You can?!" I didn't even pay attention to the remark about the elf.

"Of course. We shall start lessons tomorrow. What do you think?"

"Yes!"

I sank back down in the hay, breathing hard from the excitement. Now, someone was finally going to teach me how to read, and I _almost_ forgot completely about my curse… well, for a moment.

**T**wo months passed. I had been counting down the hours and the days and the weeks for two whole months.

I had changed. I could read a little, and was getting much better. I talked to John more and more in Elfian, until we felt like Elfian was the only language in the world. Sometimes, when I talked to Lou and Amelia, I'd speak Elifan instead of Kyrrian. Lou would smile and Amelia would look at me as if I was from a different planet. I was covered in dirt and grime, and my hands and feet had hardened to leather (because I had had only sandals on, but they had worn to the ground, and Amelia refused to give me new ones. Lou had said something about it, but I had told him that I was fine. I really wasn't fine, but I couldn't tell Lou that.), and my heart had also hardened to leather towards Amelia.

She had made sure for the past two months that I never had a single break. There was always something else for me to do. The horses and goats needed more water, the cows needed to be taken to a different spot in the field, some servants needed help making the grapes into wine, she needed a horse from the pasture to ride so I had to groom and tack up the horse (ever since I commented on her not being able to ride, she had started to practice riding horseback. Ha! She couldn't ride to save her life!), or something else like that. And I missed Emma so much! I had been taking special care of Ginger as well as Moonlight for Emma's sake.

Then Amelia and Lou came over, looking serious.

"Elisa, we have something to tell you." Amelia said sweetly. I knew something was up. "Well, first of all, tomorrow we're moving in for the summer. But you only have one more month to stay. I was wishing you could stay longer, because I know you like it so much here."

"So, we were wondering…" Lou started.

"And we worked it all out with your mother and father…" Amelia said.

"What?!" I asked, growing impatient, and yet at the same time dreading an answer.

"How would you like to stay for the summer?" Lou asked excitedly.

My mouth dropped open. Amelia glared at me.

"But-"

"Don't worry. Your mother has some business up here, so you can see her soon," Amelia said quickly.

"Oh, and did you know that I managed to get enough money for a mansion? (With a little help from Amelia) Can you believe it?" Lou exclaimed.

"That's great!" I said, although not feeling as enthusiastic as I sounded.

Lou beamed. He was so excited. I felt guilty.

"Well, we have to get ready! Good-bye!" Amelia said.

They left. I wished I could've died right then. **_Four… more… months._**


	14. Elisa is a What?

Okay, so I kinda left you hanging in the last one… actually, looking back, I've done that in a couple of chapters… I think. Anyway, thanks to dancrchick for the review and Lela-of-Bast who has faithfully reviewed my story after just about every chapter I've done so far! KEEP REVIEWING, PEOPLE! PLEASE! (REMEMBER: REVIEWS MOTIVATE ME TO UPDATE SOONER!) Oh, also, I'm kinda stupid and I didn't realize that I wasn't accepting anonymous reviews, but I am now! (Just an FYI)

Lela-of-Bast: The kitties are cute! I'm not that big of a cat fan, although they are pretty cool, I'm more of a dog fan. Also, I'm a geek, too, so don't feel bad :-)

"**C**ome, we need to herd the horses." John ordered quietly.

I followed him very, very reluctantly.

That night, I could not sleep. Then, I remembered my diamond necklace. For once in a long time, I took it out for comfort. Then, I heard a voice.

"Elisa!"

I looked around in the darkness.

"Elisa! It's Flora!"

"Flora?"

I peered in the darkness and made out a figure standing in the entryway of the hayloft.

"Flora!"

I ran and hugged her.

"How did you-"

"No time to explain, Little One. I just heard about the way you are treated and everything else from some elf friends. I've just spoken with Emma. Anyway, I thought it was time to tell you something."

We both sat down in the darkness. We could here the soft breathing of John. I began firing questions at her.

"What is it? Can you get me out of here? **Now?** Does mother know? Are they taking me away and never speaking to these horrid people again? What are you telling me?" My whisper was more like a shout I was so frantic.

"Okay, first of all, will you _please_ whisper, and second, no, your mother doesn't know. I was never really close to your mother… I was only your caretaker, for you and Emma. Sure, I would help around the house at times, but I only stayed for you two. Now I simply need a job. Anyway, I have no close relationship with your mother and therefore I don't have her trust or confidence in… well, in matters like these."

"Well, will **you** take me away? _Please?_" I whispered angrily. "Since no one else seems to care?"

"They **do **care, but they think that you are having a wonderful time here. Amelia… has a way with words, I suppose. Can I please continue? I don't have much time, and no one can know that I was here."

I nodded my head, feeling absolutely miserable.

"I decided it was time for you to know, so I came. I thought that you probably shouldn't know until you were older." Flora paused, and I waited impatiently.

"What?!"

Flora took a deep breath. "You know how you're extremely good at carving?"

"Yes."

"And that you're excellent at speaking Elfian?"

"Um, yes…"

"And that your eyes seem to glow sometimes?"

"And that my ears are slightly pointed?" I finished timidly, already knowing the news she brought.

"Yes! How did you know?"

"John already guessed it." I jerked my head towards him, even though Flora couldn't see me. I heaved a big sigh. "So I'm an elf."

"No, no, only part elf, Little One." Flora giggled. "You grandmother on your mother's side is an elf," she sighed.

"But isn't it a disgrace to marry someone not of your own race?" I asked, slightly shocked, but more annoyed than anything that you were shunned for not being "full-blooded human." Personally, I thought that it being a "disgrace" was stupid.

"Yes. That is why we decided not to tell you that until you were older." Flora sighed again, and then said, "You will look more like an elf as you grow. Even now, you probably look like an elf."

"But, I don't get it. If I'll look more like an elf as I grow, then why doesn't Mother look like an elf? Or even Lou for that matter. He doesn't look like an elf at all, and he's a lot older than me!"

"Good question, Little One. You see, when your grandfather and grandmother had your Mother, she looked like a human, since her elf blood was a recessive gene. But she passed that gene onto you and Emma, so you will look like elves instead of humans as you get older. Another strange thing is that it seems to only work on one gender. If your Father was part elf, then Lou would look like an elf, and not you. But it's different, because the elf blood is on your mother's side. Understand? Anyway, you could pass as an elf in a month or so, probably."

"I told you so, Elisa," a voice spoke up in Elfian.

"John! You idiot!" I exclaimed. "You've been listening!"

"Yes, so?"

I sighed. "So you were right. Big deal." I turned to Flora. "Is that all, or am I part gnome, too?"

Flora laughed softly. "No, but I do have a gift for you."

She handed me a small cup. I could feel the shape of horses on the cup, in full gallop, it seemed. I loved it, even though I could not see it.

"This was made by your grandmother, Elisa. I'm handing it down to you."

"But Emma, why not-"

"She has a different gift. This is yours, not hers. But both of your gifts go together, a little."

"Thank you so much."

"You are welcome, Little One. Oh, and you'll find something different about it, so listen carefully at night when you are done your chores, all right?"

"What is it? Is it magic?"

"No time to explain, you'll find out soon enough. I must leave now. Oh, and one more thing."

She put in my hands what felt like a small block of wood and a sharp knife.

"Keep up your skills, Little One." Flora whispered, hugged me, and left.

There was a short silence, then John teased, "Come along, _Little One_. The elves must wake before dawn to get the chores done."

"Oh, just shut up, John!" I laughed, chucking the block of wood in his general direction, although I couldn't see him very well. It hit with a satisfying _thunk _and a grunt from John.

Before he could do anything, I scrambled down the ladder and sprinted across the dirt path, John on my heels, shouting and cursing at me, waking up the whole villa as sunlight peeked over the horizon.


	15. Elisa's Cup

Okay, I just realized that I haven't said anything about this (and if I have, sorry to repeat myself!), but some of you might be wondering why the heck the description of elves in this story is completely different to the description of elves in _Ella Enchanted_. I changed it really to fit my story line and also because the elves sound so much cooler (to me) this way. Anyway, thought I'd let you know. THANK YOU LELA-OF-BAST, ANGEL15116, AND LADY GWEN FOR THE REVIEWS! PLEASE CONTINUE REVIEWING, PEOPLE!!!

Tell me if you like this chapter… I don't really like it… Don't really know why though… I'll have to update the next chapter soon and feel better.

**A**unt Sarah and Robert arrived at their summer home that day. Oh joy. (Amelia and Lou were not there; they were packing their belongings to get ready for their new mansion.)

They probably had ten carriages pulling their entire luggage. (Okay, maybe that's exaggerating, but still) John and I were coming back from herding the horses, feeling very hungry and ready for a quick lunch break.

But Aunt Sarah had other things for me to do. "Come help unload, Elisa. No lunch. Jonathan, grab a roll for yourself and come help unload too."

"Yes, Madam," John answered mechanically.

Aunt Sarah looked back at me and let out a small scream. Servants came rushing over.

"Your – your – your ears, Elisa! You look like an elf! What happened?"

I felt like my heart came up to my throat. Oops. She can't figure it out. She can't. She would sell me as an elf-laborer for sure (It's a sad, but true fact that elf-laborers sell for good money.).

I smiled coldly at Aunt Sarah without responding and began to help unload. Let her use her imagination as to why my ears were pointed. I covered my ears with my hair, to make sure something like that didn't happen again. Aunt Sarah said nothing but kept staring at me. My stomach complained quietly but I didn't notice. I was looking for Emma.

I saw a girl the height of Emma walking into the mansion, but could that be Emma? The once so proud, clean, and tidy Emma? Could this filthy girl with unkempt hair and a dirty servant's dress be my dear sister?

The trunks were heavy, and I was made to drag ten of them up the stairs to Aunt Sarah's and Robert's rooms. I tried desperately to catch another glimpse of Emma (with her ears covered by her hair, I had noticed), but she was not around.

By that time I was late with my chores, and Aunt Sarah yelled at me for being lazy and slow.

"You are to do twice as much today. I'll make sure you do, you lazy, useless girl!"

I kept my head up and pretended I hadn't heard. But I soon hung my head. At milking time I had to milk **half **of the fifty cows and **all** of the twenty-five goats. Then I had to put all the goats in their pens and herd the horses by myself (that gave John a break).

By the time I had gotten in bed, I would only have two hours to sleep. Wonderful. Not that it was anything that I wasn't used to. And my stomach was roaring, since I missed dinner (thanks to Aunt Sarah). John was awake, carving (he did this often). John looked up as I fell onto the hay with a crash. A huge bunch of grapes was passed my way. I gobbled them down. Then I heard voices. They were very faint and muffled. I thought I was going mad.

"That's funny. It sounds like they're coming from the haystack." John said, not looking up from his work.

I was too tired to really care, but then I remembered.

"My cup!"

I raced to the haystack where I had hidden my cup. It was talking! Now **that's** something you don't hear every day!

"That sounds like Amelia! And Aunt Sarah!"

I listened. John looked up and also listened.

_"I don't understand why you want to live near his parents. I don't even understand why you married that pauper. And now we have two girls to handle." _That was Aunt Sarah, naturally.

_"But mother, I love Lou." _ Amelia.

There was a "humph". John and I listened in fascination.

_"And besides, it isn't so bad having Emma, or Elisa for that matter. Elisa is doing well on the farm, we just have to give her more work. Same with Emma. I love her massages!" _Amelia

_"So do I." _Aunt Sarah._ "But what does that have to do with you moving closer to Lou's parents?"_

_"Because I can continue to make use out of the two girls. Lou wants a barn, and I'll have to hire servants to take care of it, because he will be starting a job as a traveling cook, like his Father. But if Elisa (and possibly Emma) are there…"_

_"Yes, yes, but I still see no reason why you need them. They won't be living with you."_

_"But I admire them so." _There was a sigh She **_admired_ **us? Fine way to show her admiration!

_"I wish not!" _Aunt Sarah exclaimed_. "My daughter, admiring paupers! I'm ashamed!"_

_"Well, whether you like it or not, we have bought a mansion very close to Kent. It's settled!"_

There was silence, and then we heard the crickets chirping in the night. The conversation had ended. We sat there a long time, amazed. I was not thinking at the moment about what they had said, but about the magic.

"They couldn't possibly be talking now!" I said suddenly.

"They weren't. My father made one of those. It repeats the conversation that the person who owns it wants or needs to know about." John replied.

We heard foggy voices again. Our conversation stopped.

The voices became clear.

_"Did you see Elisa today, Katie?"_

"That's Emma!" I whispered excitedly.

_"Yes. Madam Sarah was yelling at her to do twice as much work today."_

_"Did she look bad?"_

There was a pause.

_"Well, she had no shoes on… and I heard she sleeps in the hay loft…"_

We heard a moan.

_"She has it just as bad as I do! No shoes! Sleeping in a dirty hay loft! And me, giving massages, scrubbing floors, cooking meals, serving meals, and a tiny room to sleep in! Why do I put up with this life? I hope I can see her soon!"_

The silence came. There were no more conversations.

"Well, that wasn't the best thing you could've heard tonight, was it?" John said.

I did not answer, for I was pretending to be asleep, not wanting to hear any more.


	16. The Whipping

YAY! More reviews from Lela-of-Bast! Thank you for reviewing every chapter, I really, really appreciate it!!! It makes me so happy! Also, the reason Elisa is tall is because I AM SO STINKIN' SHORT! Man I wish I were as tall as Elisa… sorry.

**_ATTENTION:_** Okay, I need the reader's opinion! (Forgot to add this before, sorry) Before I go on, I looked over my story and thought I could add more to it. Not draw it out, just add something. So, on your reviews, I would really appreciate you saying whether you want me to make this more of a love story or keep it the same. Just write LOVE or SAME, k? Thank you! The sooner you give me suggestions, the sooner I'll update the next chapter!!!!

Lady Emma: THANX! Magic cup was kind of a spur of the moment idea because I needed something to help people understand the story better.

Mellem: THANX! Yeah, I was kinda clueless that the anonymous reviews were off… then I wondered why I didn't have any anonymous reviews… yeah.

**O**ne hour later John shook me awake. It was time to do more work. But at first, I could not focus. I was wondering if I could live through this any longer.

Aunt Sarah soon got me focused. As soon as there were a small break in-between my chores, I was doing work in a huge garden behind the mansion that I hadn't seen before. And she made me do so much work back there, that I was behind schedule with everything else (because I had so much work to do without her, that if I got behind in one job, I'd mess my whole day up.).

Then Aunt Sarah yelled at me for being behind.

By the end of two weeks of all this torture, and without having a glimpse of Emma, I was through with it all, and I knew that within another week I would go insane. Then, one day when I was weeding in the garden, Robert came towards me. I ignored him.

"I haven't seen you in a while," he said. I could tell he had something in mind.

"Aww, that's too bad. Now go away," I growled.

"You shouldn't say that to me, servant," he said in an authoritative voice.

"Oh, really? Ooh, I'm scared." I kept weeding.

"Yes. In fact, I don't think you're doing enough work."

"Oh, really?" I repeated.

"Yes."

I stood up and began walking away.

"Stop!"

I stopped. I did not turn around, and I heard him walking towards me.

"So right now you are going to do work for me."

I was getting annoyed. So I towered menacingly over him (having a tall Father can really come in handy; I was 5ft 7in. now) and said, "Not only could I really care less about your stupid work that needs to be done, but I don't have time." By the last part I was almost shouting at him.

Robert drew himself up to his full height, which was almost a head shorter than me, and said, unafraid, "Yes, you do have time. Now I want you to-"

So I began my work for him, becoming so close to strangling him several times. I thought that he would be done after the second day, but, when I walked into the garden the next day, he was there, waiting.

"You're late," he said as soon as I was within earshot.

"Since when?" I snapped.

"I want you here at noon, and I want you to stand by the back door until I have finished eating lunch every day. Understand?" Robert acted as if he was the king of Kyrria. I wanted to punch him. It would be so easy… I restrained myself with every once of willpower I had.

"That's during my lunch break," I said through clenched teeth.

He smiled evilly. "I know."

So the next day, though against my will, my curse drove me to be standing at the door, waiting. I had planned ahead and had my lunch with me. So I ate while I waited. I was almost done, when Robert came out.

"Since when did I say you could eat lunch while you were waiting for me?" He demanded.

"Since when did you say I **couldn't** eat lunch while I was waiting?" I retorted, finishing my apple and tossing the core over his head. I wasn't afraid of Robert.

He was taken aback for a moment, then said, "Fine! Tomorrow you will stand by my chair **in **the house at noon until I'm done eating and **you** won't eat at all. Now I want you to –"

And the list of chores for that day grew.

Not so obediently, I came the next day and invited myself in the mansion door around noon. (John had let me eat while he did my chore for that time period. He's an awesome friend.)

Aunt Sarah was startled. "Does a filthy farm girl always come barging into the house when we are about to eat?!"

"No, only when she has been summoned," I answered. Good. I was making her mad and ruining her perfect house.

"And who summoned you?" Aunt Sarah asked, hands on her hips.

"Your son, Aunt Sarah," I replied.

"Wh—what did you just call me?" Aunt Sarah spluttered.

"I just called you 'Aunt Sarah', the name you told me to call you, remember?" I replied with an evil smile.

"No – no servant calls me 'Aunt Sarah'! To you, I am 'Madam Sarah' or 'Mistress'! Understand?"

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, _Mistress_. I am only doing what I have been told to do, as you should know very well by now."

"Ah, there you are, Elisa. I don't need you now. Go back to your work instead of waiting, and then bring me the juiciest grapes in the vineyard (one basket full) before dinner." Robert entered the room.

"What?! No, I won't! You can't just – I spent all this time – I can't–" I was furious now.

"Don't argue with my son! Do as he says! Actually, grapes sound good. Bring **five** baskets full. Oh, and bring in the milk from the cows, too, after you've milked half of them. Go now!"

After quite a few days of this, I was even more behind every single day, tired, sore, and fuming mad. But Robert was not through. I could tell he was enjoying this daily routine.

"Now I want you to-"

I clenched my fist and wailed him, hard. John was not there to stop me. In that punch, I let out my full fury, all the anger and hate that had built up over the months. He fell back onto the ground, stunned, but not unconscious. I was going to pay dearly for that.

I ran. I ran past staring servants, and John, who tried to grab me and calm me down, but I shook away. I leapt on Moonlight, and we galloped down the trail through the villa. I did not want to run away without Emma. I would figure out something. But I knew for sure that I was never, ever going to work for these spoiled brats anymore! I heard servants coming after me on horseback, but I kept galloping. They eventually stopped chasing me.

After an hour or two or three, I couldn't tell, and after I had calmed down a bit, I heard the thundering of hooves. John was herding the horses without me. I decided not to let him do it alone. I cantered through a field, leapt over the fenced-in pasture and helped herd the horses with a surprised John.

When we got back, "Mistress" and Robert were waiting for me. Madam Sarah was enraged. Robert had a large discolored bulge above his eye, I noticed with satisfaction. I also noticed without satisfaction that Madam Sarah was holding a whip. Was she seriously going to whip me?

"Come here," she ordered.

I came, my face expressionless. I was determined to keep my face expressionless.

"On your knees, girl," Madam Sarah ordered though clenched teeth. For once I obeyed without a struggle. I was fairly certain that she couldn't whip me hard enough for me to even feel it. And, like many other times before, I was wrong.

The whip sang through the air and landed with a loud crack on my back. Pain blurred my vision, but I refused to cry out. Madam Sarah must have done this many times before for the blow to be that painful and powerful. In front of all the servants, including John, working at the barn, she whipped me hard and good. I bit my lip to keep from crying, but a single tear slipped out in front of John. I wiped it away quickly and stood up when Madam Sarah told me to after whipping me ten times.

She then proceeded to yell at me to never again hit "her little boy", then I was made to do the rest of my chores without supper (this did not seem unusual to me, because ever since Madam Sarah and Robert came to the summer home, I was "being lazy" all the time and I had to skip a lot of meals. Luckily, at night, John would slip me some food, so I didn't starve.) I could barely bend or sit down, but I was stubborn and did not show any signs of having difficulty doing any of my chores. I wouldn't give Madam Sarah or Robert that satisfaction.

That night in the orchard I carefully peeled the thin tunic from my back, wincing as it took with it some newly formed scabs. Lovely. John had found me a new tunic, so I had gone out privately to change. The old tunic showed that it was going to be a while before the wounds healed. John was silent. I held my knife and wood and stared at it. _ Would I go through the rest of the three months? Even afterwards, Amelia will be there to order me around even more. Would I still bear it? Could I? _ After an hour, I stood up. I had made my decision.


	17. A Change in Identity

Well, **that **didn't work. I probably should've waited longer for people to respond, but I'm too impatient and I already finished the chapter. I decided on my own what I would do w/the story. So there! Just kidding. I am trying my best to **not **drag this out and bore you to death. So, in parts, months are going to fly by within sentences, so you're going to have to hang on. I could go through them in detail, but then even **I **would fall asleep. Plus, I added a touch more of love to later chapters to make them more interesting. You'll see. Thanks to Mellem and Lela-of-Bast for the reviews! Oh, and Mellem, what was "argh come on" for? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Just wondering. So, here is my next chapter, and I hope you enjoy.

**I** told John. His response didn't surprise me at all.

"I'm coming with you," he stood up.

We gathered our few belongings and placed them in my handkerchief that I had worn on my head.

"Now let's find Emma."

"Remember, we only have an hour," John warned.

"Humph. We'll be out of here way before then."

But I was wrong. How many times must I be wrong before maybe just once I will be right?! First, we had to get Moonlight, Cinnamon (John's horse), and a protesting Ginger out and saddled (I made it easier because Moonlight I would ride bareback).

Then, I had to get Emma, somehow. John went the other direction, towards the vineyards and apple orchards.

I quickly looked up and down the dark shadow of the mansion that loomed above me. I tried the door. Of course, it was locked. But then I remembered that there was a back door. Thankfully, it wasn't locked. I crept in. Then, I heard footsteps. I froze, not really knowing what else to do. Somebody carrying a candle stepped towards me. I squinted in the light. Please, please don't be…

"Elisa?" I heard a whisper.

"Emma!"

We hugged, and she began firing questions at me, but I got right down to business.

"Come on! Ginger is waiting!"

I could see her smile. She followed me out of the house with her few belongings stashed under her arm. John was waiting.

"The hour's up! We have got to get out of here now!" He whispered. He threw off his cloak, his eyes gleaming brighter than ever. "I won't need to cover anything up anymore!"

"What? I thought it was just you and me, Elisa. Who is he? What's going on?" Emma protested as she hopped onto Ginger.

"No time to explain now! Let's go!"

We left. John had grabbed some food, and the keys to open the gate. We were free. Oh, how it felt to be free! I felt like singing, and then decided against it.

Then I told Emma everything (except for the part about John, for I was ordered not to tell anyone about that, but Emma figured that part out). She told me she had seen me get whipped, and she decided that it was time to run, just like I did. So she had also grabbed some food and her belongings.

We had enough food to last us a few days, but what would we do after that? John said he could find us a job, and we could work away from everyone.

We rode away from Frell until lunchtime. Then we stopped and rested.

"You know, you guys have grown." John remarked.

"So?" I asked. What did that have to do with anything?

"You two could pass as elves."

"What?!" Emma and I shouted together.

John shrugged. "It could help us get a job."

"If only we were boys," Emma sighed, staring at her knife after a long silence. We were all thinking the same thing. "Of course," Emma added quickly, "that's impossible. And foolish of me to say such a thing. I mean, who wouldn't know that we were girls?"

"But, we are really dirty…" I began.

"Oh, yeah, like **that's** going to help us!" Emma scoffed.

"Your hair could go, and then it would make it easier for people to believe you're male elves," John said quietly.

"How about **NO!** I am **not **getting rid of my hair!" I shouted, clutching the long locks of hair that flowed down my back as if that would protect them. Emma nodded in agreement.

"Then what will we do? I don't see _you_ giving any fabulous ideas!" John snapped back.

"Oh, stop it! It's simple, watch," Emma twisted her hair, and swiftly coiled it on the back of her head. "Now, all you need to do is find a cap and place your hair underneath it! And, if we get pins, we can make sure our hair stays up. It's not foolproof, but definitely better than getting rid of our hair. Besides, we **are** returning home eventually, if not now, so I'm keeping my hair long!"

"And you'd better not have **any** problems with it!" I straightened my back, still much smaller than John, but **much** more stubborn.

John shrugged. "_Yastay,_" he sighed, meaning, "whatever". "Get yourselves in trouble for all I care. And you **will** get in trouble, just to let you know."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, sure. Now, where can we get pins, boys clothing, and caps?"

Emma smiled, pulling out a couple of pins from her tangled hair. "I kept them for picking locks, just in case. And," she now pulled out a brush from the small bundle she carried, "I, um, 'borrowed' this from Amelia."

"'Borrowed'? Yeah, sure you did. Anyway, I have clothes. I had a feeling you might have to disguise yourselves, but then again, I thought you'd have to get your hair cut, too. Are you going to argue that you won't wear the boy servant's clothes I brought as well?" John looked at us defiantly.

Emma shook her head, while I rolled my eyes again. John handed us the clothes, and we went into the forest to change. When Emma came back out, I almost laughed. She looked extremely uncomfortable in a light tunic and pants. John stifled a burst of laughter.

"Oh, leave us alone!" Emma snapped, annoyed.

We went to a nearby stream and rinsed our hair. Emma and I attempted to brush our hair. It worked, and soon our hair had almost regained its natural shine. Well, almost. Then, Emma, being a better expert at how to put up hair, pinned my hair up in a bun, and did the same for hers. We stuck caps on our head. Now John was rolling on the ground laughing. Emma glared at John, and I ignored him.

John controlled his laughter enough to say, "Now, onto job-hunting! Come along, men."

"John!" I smacked the back of his head. "That was **not **funny."

John laughed again. "Actually, it was."


	18. MailElves

All right, here's the deal: I want to add more romance to it, and I am going to, but, unfortunately, that will make my story longer than anticipated. Hopefully you'll find it not boring longer, but maybe better longer. _I'm _okay with that, but I'm writing it, not reading it. Are my readers okay with that? It should get a little more romance into it… You won't get bored, right? _Right?_ **_Please_** REVIEW and let me know! THANK YOU TO LELA-OF-BAST, AS USUAL (THANK YOU!), MELLEM, WHO EXPLAINED WHAT "ARGH COME ON" WAS FOR AND TO MOMOMONKEY WHO IS A NEW REVIEWER (YAY!) AND TO DANCRCHICK, EVEN THOUGH YOU THREW A ROCK AT ME -) ! Oh, this chapter has a flashback that's in italics. Only flashback of my story, I think. Not a really exciting chapter, but it's important to the story. Then the real fun (for me, the author, at least) will begin.

**W**e rode off, back to Frell. There were so many shops, gift carts, smells, people, and animals that our horses could barely get through.

Then, Emma spotted a sign. It read:

**Mail-Carriers Wanted!**

See Curtis Mailer to get started

No experience needed

"Hey, you elves! You want the job?"

We all turned, surprised (Emma and I were especially surprised that we had been called "elves"… we weren't used to it). A rough looking man (he was Curtis Mailer, I realized) stepped forward in the crowd. John hesitated, then nodded.

"How would you like to be mail-boys, or rather, mail-elves? I need some help in business."

I had heard of "mail-boys" before. They carried heavy bags full of letters and documents, and delivered them all around Kyrria, and sometimes even beyond Kyrria's realms.

"We would like to stay together, or at least see each other every once in a while if we are to be mail-carriers." John replied in rough Kyrrian. He put on a bigger Elfian accent on purpose.

"You can stay together on some nights after your work is done for the day. I can arrange it that way." The man said. He looked at Emma and I. "Would you like to?"

John quickly said, "They cannot speak Kyrrian. I'll ask them."

He quickly explained in Elfian. We both nodded our heads in agreement, playing along with John's game.

When the man turned his back, John whispered, "I don't trust you two talking in Kyrrian, even if you can sound like a boy. Elfian is safer, since you don't need to have a particular 'tone of voice'."

We got the job. The man put us to work right away. He would give us a large bag of letters and documents early in the morning. We'd deliver all of the letters in order of which ones were more urgent than others, then we would get more letters from the people we delivered to. We'd take those letters to the people requested, then when our bag would be empty (which could be within one day or three days), we returned to Frell to get another full bag. It was slightly confusing, but we caught on quickly. Most of the work was in Frell, but some was in Bast, Lowell and Kent, too (sometimes even in the Athourian Grounds, which was the furthest we had to travel). The man had given our work so that we would have two days off during the week, and then we could see each other during those breaks. **Quick A/N: I hope that wasn't _too _confusing explaining that…**

So we started work. When I stopped at a city, I'd find a place to water Moonlight, give him some rest, then off we went again. Sometimes I saw Emma and John, but mostly during the week I didn't see them, until our free days. We felt like the luckiest "elves" in the world.

The people we delivered mail to would give us a coin or two, which we would use to buy food at a marketplace. Depending on where the three of us were during the night, we would sleep in abandoned barns (John and I were used to this, but Emma made a fuss about it.) or out under the stars. We weren't paid well, but at least it was a job, and at least we were actually paid. (Emma and I stuck to the "fact" that we could not speak Kyrrain, and whenever John was around, he translated for us, even though we understood what the person had said.)

One night, after two weeks of this job, I thought back to the night after the first day we had worked.

_Emma had shown me her gift, a small mirror, with the wooden frame carved by our grandmother. She had seen Aunt Sarah and Amelia talking, but she could not hear what they were saying. It was child's play to figure out how the two gifts worked together. That night, we heard and saw a conversation. Amelia and Aunt Sarah were talking again, and Robert was looming in the backround, listening. This is what we heard:_

"Well, now what?"_ Aunt Sarah._

"Now we write to their parents."_ Amelia._

_Amelia sat down at a desk, and Aunt Sarah looked over her shoulder. Amelia dipped her feather in the ink, and began to write. She spoke out loud._

"'Dear Friends, We are sorry to inform you that your two children have disappeared this morning.'"

"Disappeared? They ran away." _ Robert put in suddenly._

"Hush. Now, what else, Mother?"_ Amelia._

"'We believe that a servant has taken them away, because one is missing. We are very sorry, and we have sent out people looking for them. As soon as there is news, we will bring it to you. Sincerely Yours, Sarah.'"

"But Amelia's the one writing it." _ Robert._

"Dear, please be quiet."

"And also, the servant didn't take them away. They ran away with the servant."

"Hush, Robert." _ Amelia. _ "There. It's finished. We'll send it out tomorrow morning."

"Why did you even marry that pauper? Look at all this trouble we're going through!"

_Then it was silent. The next morning, I was called to deliver the letter, which meant I had to bring it directly to Flora. I wished John could've delivered it. She wouldn't have recognized him._

_I thought I saw Flora smile when she took the letter and read it (I had to stand by just in case she had a letter to send back.), and then looked at me. I think she knew, and wasn't going to tell anyone. Thank the Creator._

_After two days, Emma had to deliver the return letter to Aunt Sarah. She told me that a servant had received the letter, so there was no contact with Aunt Sarah._

I rolled over in the hay, and listened to the crickets chirping, John's soft snores, and Emma's even breathing. Soon I drifted off to sleep.


	19. Prince Rilean and Prince Caspian

GHAAAA! I haven't been able to update for so long! It makes me so mad… I was really loyal about updating quickly, and then I moved far away which sucked, and then I had to adjust to my new house and school and barn and the file where I've saved all of my info for this story was packed away and missing for a long time and I joined the school soccer team so I have practice almost every weekday for two hours after school and I'M SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED SOONER! PLEASE, PLEASE, _PLEASE_ FORGIVE ME! DON'T ABANDON ME (UNLESS YOU ALREADY HAVE, WHICH I DON'T BLAME YOU ANYWAY… cries)! Okay… deep breath. Now to thank the many reviewers, who hopefully will not abandon me sniffle. And I know to some of you it might be tedious as I thank everyone but I want all of my reviewers to know how much I appreciate their reviews, so they each get their own personal thank you!

Lela-of-Bast: Thank you, as always… please keep reviewing! Also, thanks for letting me know about Tefaw… I _really _need to read more books by Gail Carson Levine…

dancrchick: heheh… so much for saying "thanks for taking comments and **updating quickly**", eh? Ah, well, I will try much harder! Thank you for the review!

Mellem: romance is coming… and should be started in this chapter… hopefully… Thanks for the review!

flammingirl: HOORAY! A NEW REVIEWER! THANK YOU! I'm glad that you don't think it's dumb anymore! I'll try to answer your question, and I'll see if I can correct it in my story so it won't be confusing. Emma's gift is carving, but since Elisa is part elf too, she is naturally good at carving, but doesn't have the same talent as Emma has for it, just like Emma is naturally good with animals ('cause she's part elf too) but it's not her strong point like Elisa. Make more sense now?

booksrule39: HOORAY ANOTHER NEW REVIEWER! THANK YOU! I'm still writing… don't hurt me! lol jk

tayk: YAY! YOU'RE STILL REVIEWING! THANK YOU! Err… the dragon ran away 'cause he saw his reflection in the diamond… and in this story they can't stand to see their own evil gleaming red eyes staring back at them… I guess I didn't make that clear… oops.

HottStuffMelv: That was such a sweet review! It made my day when I read it! YAY! I'm so happy!

Watson's Crew (aka Watson's Brother #2): HOORAY! **ANOTHER **NEW REVIEWER! Wow… that was an awesome compliment! THANK YOU! Alas, I haven't read Ella Enchanted twelve times… but I'll get there soon! I will help you get your stories up if I can… I kinda fudged it when I started… but I will help you as much as I can. Instead of doing it here, I'll review my own story and explain to u… or at least try… k?

**ONTO THE STORY!**

That morning, Emma and I had the honor of delivering a letter each to Prince Rilean and Prince Caspian, the sons of King Charmount and Queen Ella!

We were thrilled, but John was cautious.

"You two don't say anything in Kyrrian, only talk in Elfian, okay?" John ordered. "Oh, and tell them your names are Joshua and Elisha, all right?"

"Okay, okay." We said together, and trotted our horses through the crowded streets to the castle.

"I've never seen the princes. I wonder if the're hot…" I thought out loud, picturing each one in my head.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Please, spare me!"

"I'm just wondering!"

We approached the massive stone walls, marveling and the giant granite blocks and heavily fortified guard towers. Almost no one could get in this place by force. It was the strongest castle in all of Kyrria! The guards let us in, and we dismounted and entered the castle, in awe.

Inside the walls, we handed our horses to a stable boy and walked towards the great hall. Colorful tapestries covered the walls, depicting court life, famous battles, and legendary heros. I almost didn't see the princes watching us come towards them. They were a little older than us and stood at the top of the huge staircase. One was slightly taller, and (as I found out when they came closer) the taller one had ocean blue eyes, but the other shorter one had dark walnut brown-colored eyes. They leapt onto the banister, raced down, and ran up to us. (We were not surprised that the princes slid down the banister; everyone knew that they did that.)

We bowed low. (Bowing is so much easier than curtsying, the way John had taught us.) The boys grinned.

"Do you have the letters?" The boy with dark walnut eyes stepped up. I could see that they were not very formal, so I decided not to be very formal.

I began to tell them in Elfian that I didn't understand, and I thought **they** probably didn't understand **me**. But I forgot that the princes had to learn many languages before one of them became king. Even if they didn't become king they still had to be well educated.

"Oh, I asked if you had the letters," the prince said in slow, rough Elfian. I choked back laughter because it was pretty bad.

Emma nodded, while I coughed to cover up any laughter that might escape. The two princes smiled.

"Through all my lessons in Elfian, I thought I'd never meet an elf and have to speak their language!" The other prince said excitedly. His voice was deeper, and he spoke Elfian better although when he spoke it was a mixture of Kyrrian and Elfian, but he still had the Elfian accent fairly good; I liked him more of the two. He was well built, and had a mass of wavy brown hair on his head. When I looked into his eyes I felt as if I was staring into the depths of the ocean, vast and mysterious. By the Creator, was this love or lust that I was feeling for him? What is wrong with me? I was acting so stupid. I hardly even knew him! He jerked me out of my thoughts with his words, "I am Prince Rilean, son of King Charmount!"

The other punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Come on, you don't have to be that formal." He turned to us. "I'm Prince Caspian. What are your names?"

I had forgotten the names John had given us but luckily Emma had not.

"I am Joshua, as you call me in Kyrrian, and this is my brother, Elisha, as you call him in Kyrrian."

We handed him the letters, bowed, and before we left, Prince Rilean spoke up.

"We have a letter for you two to send."

We spun around. They handed us a letter each. It had the royal seal of King Charmount. Then Emma and I bowed again, after Prince Caspian said, "It was a pleasure meeting you both. I hope we'll meet again."

Emma sighed dreamily as she got on Ginger. "Isn't Prince Caspian _so_ handsome?"

It was my turn to roll my eyes, and in Emma's tone of voice, "Please, spare me."

She glared at me, but was not really angry with me. She said happily, "Oh, shut up. I'm in a good mood now and I won't let your sarcastic humor ruin it."

I shrugged. "Suit yourself, but I believe you should have been staring more at Prince Rilean than Prince Caspian."

Emma didn't pay attention. She hadn't looked this happy in days. In fact, I don't think she had ever found a man to her liking, so this was very new to her. I _was_ thinking about Prince Rilean, but I wasn't going to show my feelings to the world, especially now that the world thought I was a boy. Boys tended not to show their feelings as much as girls.

After our rounds of letters that day, we told John everything.

"You like them," he said bluntly.

"No! Of course not!" Emma exclaimed a little too quickly.

"Oh, give me a break, John!" I scoffed. "We saw them for what, five minutes? Yeah, I'll admit, they were good-looking, but we don't _like_ them!"

"Oh, if you get to deliver one more letter, you'll fall in love with them, no doubt."

Emma shook her head vigorously. I rolled my eyes. What was he thinking?

"Well," John stretched, "No use arguing. Good night."


	20. A Mistake Made for the Better

VICTORY IS MINE! I'm updating quickly and it makes me happy! YAY! Thanks for not abandoning me! Just don't abandon me if it takes me a little longer next time to update… I have to go back to school and soccer and stuff next week. Also, in honor of booksrule39's request, THIS IS A LONG CHAPTER! YAY! I hope you like it… PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING AND LET ME KNOW!

Thank you, booksrule39, dancrchick, Lela-of-Bast, Lady Emma, and flammingirl for the reviews! I'm so happy I haven't been abandoned! I'm glad you guys understand that MOVING SUCKS! (ahem) Sorry. Lela-of-Bast: YOU MOVED TO JAPAN? HOLY CRAP! And I thought moving three states away was bad… wow. Lady Emma- Keep reading! You'll see! THANK YOU ALL! I'M SO HAPPY! ONTO THE STORY!

**A** few days later, there were two other letters for us to deliver to the princes. John continued his teasing remarks until we were out of sight, headed for the castle.

When we got to the castle, the princes galloped up to us on their purebred, extremely expensive horses.

"Would you like to ride before going off to deliver letters?" Prince Rilean offered.

We glanced at each other and grinned.

For the next couple of hours we raced their horses through fields and through the woods, jumping over logs, splashing through streams, and allowing the wind to whip in our faces. It was an awesome ride.

"You ride well." Rilean said to me, gasping for breath after the ride.

"Thank you. And you aren't so bad yourself… for a human." I grinned at him.

He laughed. I could tell it was a genuine laugh by the gleam in his eyes. My heart melted, and my mind reprimanded me. What's the matter with you? You're still acting stupid.

Emma was laughing at a joke Caspian had made. She hadn't been this happy for a very long time. And, I realized with embarrassment, neither had I.

**O**f course, our "break" put us behind with our other deliveries, but we didn't care. The two princes had said that they would recommend us to be the deliverers for next time, so neither of us could wait until there was another letter to deliver to the two princes.

A few days later when Emma, John and I were together after another day of delivering mail, we told him about our ride. I told him about it with less enthusiasm than Emma, covering my true feelings.

"Awww…" John smiled sarcastically. "Isn't that cute! The two runaway 'paupers' – isn't that what the Lady Sarah called you? – fall in love with the princes of Kyrria! How touching."

"If I didn't know better," I said calmly, leaning against the barn wall, "I would think you were jealous."

John immediately became defensive. "Jealous?" He asked incredulously, trying to remain calm. "Of course not!"

With that, he changed the subject. Emma and I said nothing.

**I**t was a glorious day. The sun was streaming in gentle rays through the trees, the birds sang quietly, and mostly it was still in the woods. The only sound that truly broke the silence was Moonlights soft hoof-beats on the dirt trail. It was my first time on this trail; I had seen it before and it seemed to be a short-cut from the Palace to… well, I didn't really know where. But it _seemed_ like a short-cut, and I needed a break from the usual loud cobblestone roads.

I was in no hurry and took my time simply enjoying nature. There was a stream that emptied into a lake, which reflected the light beautifully. I hesitated. It was so tempting. The sun was just reaching its peak in the sky; my mailbag was light and wouldn't take to long to empty. So… tempting…

I gave into temptation. I leapt off Moonlight's back, took off the saddle and mailbag so he could roll in the grass, and I dove into the water. So refreshing. So relaxing. I had needed a break. I tore off the cap and let my hair fall gently into the water. Moonlight nickered, rolling in the grass beside the stream, enjoying himself. I lounged in the water, relaxing tense muscles from months of hard work.

After doing a couple of laps around the small lake and enjoying myself immensely, I stopped. There was something wrong. Moonlight was quiet, not grunting as he scratched his back or whinnying as he ran up and down the bank of the lake. He was looking… right… behind me. Before I could spin around, I felt the cold, sharp metal of a sword tip pressed firmly against my neck. I froze.

"Lovely day for a swim," the voice behind me said, "on the King's Property!"

"Err…" I was confused, scared half to death, and yet surprisingly calm (on the outside at least). "This is the King's Property? It would be nice if they put a sign out or let people know that they can't trespass on this land…"

Something was definitely wrong with me. There was a sword pressed against my neck, I was (without knowing it) breaking the law by trespassing on the King's Property, and yet, here I was, acting annoyed and not scared at all.

"You speak Kyrrian very well for an elf. No hint of an accent."

I swore under my breath. Stupid, stupid, stu- Oh no. I slowly put my hand on the top of my head. There was no cap. Only wet, long hair. Could this possibly get any worse? While my insides were panicking at my stupidity, my outside remained calm. "Would you mind removing that sword from my neck? You're acting as if I'm a horrible criminal for simply trespassing on the King's property without knowing it!"

What the heck was I saying?

"That is not the best way to address a prince," the voice replied, not removing the blade.

"Ha!" I laughed. I was laughing? Was I going insane? "I bet you're joking! You're not a pri-"

I did another stupid thing and I spun around to look the voice in the face. My mouth dropped open, and I really panicked. No. It couldn't be. Anyone but him! Not now… oh, by the Creator, not now!

**A/N:** You would all kill me if I stopped here, wouldn't you? Hmmm… I dunno… maybe I'll just end the chapter here… I love making cliffhangers, and the chapter's long enough… lol jk. All right, I'll continue.

"E-Elisha?" Prince Rilean blinked, and lowered his sword.

I sank to my knees in the water and mud, wanting the ground to swallow me up. Why me? Oh, Creator Almighty, WHY ME!

"You – but – how-" he took a deep breath, and started over. "Explain yourself."

Oh, joy, an order. He never took his eyes off me as I looked down at my reflection in the water and began stuttering something. I don't even know now what I was trying to say. Finally he sighed, "I meant the truth and for a dragon's sake get on your feet. It's embarrassing."

I hadn't realized I was still on my knees in the cool water. So, I stood up and with the curse pushing me to do as ordered, I began the true story, from the first time I met Madam Sarah and her children up to the point when I dove into the water of that lake. What choice did I have? When I was done, I stared hard at my bare feet, and refused to look at him. It was quiet for a very long time.

"Would you like to share my lunch with me?" He asked suddenly. "My cook always packs far more than I can ever eat."

I stared at him, incredulous. He shrugged. "What else am I supposed to say? You told me the truth, I believe you, and it's over. Now would you like some lunch?"

I smiled and nodded. I supposed I shouldn't have been surprised by his response. Although I didn't know him very well yet, it seemed like something he would say. He beckoned for me to follow him to his horse who was tied up to a tree near the lake. Then my stomach jolted. Moonlight!

I looked up to his horse, and almost laughed. Moonlight was nose to nose with Prince Rilean's horse, nickering gently.

"Looks like your not the only one who's made a friend today." He smiled at me, and my stomach did a back flip.

I laughed and replied, "Yes, but it just shows you how loyal he is to me. Here I was, sword pressed against my neck, and he's flirting with the prince's horse!"

Prince Rilean immediately turned serious. "I'm sorry about threatening you with the sword. I saw Moonlight – how could I ever forget a horse like that – and I thought that you had stolen him because I knew who he belonged to. Of course, I didn't realize, well…"

I shrugged it off. "It's done. I'm fine now."

With that, he brought out meat pastries, slices of pie, and fresh fruit. We ate and talked about our horses, about the Elfian language, and, of course, my adventure so far. Suddenly, I realized how late it was.

"I'm sorry, I have to go!" I leapt to my feet and called Moonlight over. I put my hair back in my cap, hoisted the saddle onto Moonlight's back, and grabbed my mail bag, which now seemed a lot heavier that I had so much work and so little time.

"Wait!" Prince Rilean called. "You know, I love this spot. I come out here for lunch every other day, to get away from the palace. Company would be greatly appreciated."

I grinned, vaulting easily onto Moonlight's back. "I think I could manage to come by here sometime."

With that, I was off, feeling even better about my life than I had for a very long time.


	21. Friendship

Ugh… I can't win. How long has it been, like over a MONTH! Grr… cries regains composure No, seriously, I am sorry. Until soccer season is over (June 1, I think) I don't have any free time. I feel stupid. Please forgive me, those of you who haven't lost hope and abandoned me. I **will** finish this story, darnit! Anyway, onto the thank-yous. **Lela-of Bast**: I love dragons! BRING ON THE DRAGONS! (ahem) Thanks for the review. **whimsicality**: aww… blushes thank you! I hope I'm still talented… **littlelambug**: yay! thank you! **dancrchick**: thanx 4 the review! this chapter explains your question! **flammingirl**: thank you! **mimi**: wow! What a compliment! Thanks! (hopefully you'll get caught up soon!) **HottStuffMelv**: Thank you for the review! sighs deeply I feel like I've let you down, especially after all those compliments. I'm not trying to torture you, really! I've been so busy! Anyway, I moved from central PA to central VA, so it might not seem that big of a move but it's the furthest distance away I've moved yet, so… it's hard. Anyway… **Watson's Brother #2**: Hooray! My story's humorous! Thanks! **tayk**: thanks for keeping your promise! I don't care if your slow, it's fine with me. Yay, I got u to giggle! I'm still dreaming of that perfect guy… sighs **Emma-J-Riddle**: o wow… you're right! Hopefully this chapter will make amends for my forgetfulness. Thanks for the review!

**W**e were specifically requested to deliver more letters to the two princes.

"Looks like you two have the royal favor," Curtis Mailer laughed, tossing us the heavy mailbags.

Emma and I grinned. John rolled his eyes and hoisted his bag onto a protesting Cinnamon.

"See you two later, then." With that, John was off. For some reason, I felt a pang of guilt. The past couple of days I had neglected our daily reading lessons. I had gotten so much better, but I needed practice. I realized, with annoyance at myself, that the reason was because I had been too busy delivering mail late at night from being delayed (the first time from the ride with the princes, the second from my lunch with Prince Rilean). I resolved to spend more time with my best friend, because he was too great a friend to lose.

"Elisa? Are you all right?" Emma put her hand on my shoulder, concerned.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." I mumbled, and got onto Moonlight's back. Then I grinned. "Let's deliver these letters, shall we? We wouldn't want to keep the princes waiting."

Emma laughed. As we approached the castle yet again, a horrible thought came to me. What was Prince Rilean going to say? He knows _everything_! We got off our horses and went into the castle. The princes were waiting excitedly for us. I felt sick. What was I going to do?

Prince Rilean approached us first, grinning. "Good to see you two again. I'm glad our request for you two was granted."

He glanced in my direction and I raised an eyebrow. He winked. I grinned and bowed. "It is a pleasure to see you two again, Prince Rilean."

He waved the bow off. "Come now, you two are our friends. Friends don't need to bow to other friends, now, do they? Call me Rilean."

"Call me Caspian," his brother added quickly.

We shrugged. Emma smiled and said, "As you wish."

It was the start of a glorious friendship, and an even deeper friendship with the roots of secrecy between Rilean and me.

**A **couple nights later, when Emma, John and I finally had a break together, I approached him quietly as he worked on his carving.

"Er, mind if I join you?" I asked timidly. He nodded without looking up.

We were silent for a couple of minutes, both of us carving away. He worked delicately and patiently, carving with gentle strokes. I, the impatient one, tried to work delicately, but it didn't quite work out as well. Carving was not my strong point. Finally, when I could take the silence no longer, I said, "Um, listen, about what I said… You know, about you being jealous and all… I –"

"Don't worry about it. It's fine. I'm not jealous of them, you know, I mean, why would I be jealous over _you_?"

I straightened indignantly, saying with sarcasm, "Oh, thanks a lot, John. I appreciate your support!"

"No, no! Don't take it like that! I mean, because you're my best friend, and how could I be jealous of the princes over my best friend?" He said quickly.

I was not convinced. "Do you really mean that?"

"Yes! Elisa, elves don't lie about friendship. You **are** my best friend, and the only reason I might seem jealous is because I don't want to lose our friendship because you've fallen in love."

"Oh, John! I wouldn't throw away our friendship like that! You're getting too worried! You're my best friend, too!" I wasn't quite sure what to do, so I gave him a hug. At first he didn't hug me back, surprised at this sudden display of affection from his friend who never showed her feelings. Then he gave me a gentle hug and said, "How about we skip the reading lesson for today and take a ride?"

I grinned. Our friendship was still intact.

**T**he next day, I "accidentally" found myself taking the "short-cut" through the King's Property. Rilean was there, waiting for me expectantly. Nothing unusual happened; we ate our picnic lunch, talked, and took a short ride, and then I was on my way, late as usual. For the next couple of weeks, this was my routine: Every other day I would meet him, and the other day would be spent catching up on lost time. Emma, John and I would spend lots of time together whenever we could, and frequently we would see the princes to deliver their mail.

At times I would feel guilty for keeping the secret of my meetings with Rilean, because I never kept anything from my sister. But I couldn't tell her that I had betrayed **our **secret to Rilean because of my stupidity. Besides, I enjoyed the secret. Rilean and I told each other everything, except, of course, the fact that I was cursed. The more time I spent with Rilean, the more I felt my – love? – for him grow. It was always nice to have something to look forward to every once in a while.

I was telling Rilean about some of the jokes John had told me so many nights ago in the hayloft of "Madam" Sarah's villa. When I continued to talk about John, Rilean grew silent and stiff.

"Rilean? Are you all right?" I asked, frowning.

"How long have you and John been together?" He asked abruptly, not answering my question.

"Excuse me? What are you talking about?" I was really confused.

Rilean shook his head. "Forgive me. My manners are awful. I didn't mean anything by that."

"Your manners are flawless, but whatever. John's my best friend. We aren't, um, 'together' as you so… politely put it." The last part of what I said was my sarcasm coming out, as usual.

He put his hand on mine and looked intently into my eyes. My heart melted. He said, "Forgive me, Elisa. That – that was foolish of me to think."

I blinked, trying to keep my eyes expressionless as I said, "It's okay. Really."

An awkward silence followed. I looked up and saw that the sun was getting far too close to the western horizon. I stood up. "I'll see you in a few days, I guess."

"Elisa, stay longer. I don't want you to leave ending our conversation like that."

I realized with a jolt that he had ordered me to stay. He _ordered_ me. I had spent at the very least two months during the summer with him, and never had he ordered me to do anything. He always said please, giving me the freedom to accept or decline. It had made me feel free of my wretched curse. Now, I stiffened as the curse forced me to obey. I replied coldly, "Very well."

He looked at me strangely, wondering at my sudden change of attitude. "Please, Elisa, if you have work to do, you may go. I didn't mean it like that… I just didn't want you to be mad at me for my stupidity."

I softened, realizing sheepishly that I really didn't want to go anyway, and I hadn't meant to be so angry. I said gently, "I'm sorry. I just – oh, nevermind. I'm sure I can stay a little while longer."

And so I did.


	22. Royal Mail Carriers

**I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!** bangs head repeatedly Ugh… I can't win… BUT IT'S SUMMER! YAY, FOR SUMMER! And summer means faster updates! HOORAY! Please forgive me! I'll make up my forgetfulness and business to you, I promise! Oh, and just to let you know, since I've noticed that not all of you like the turn of events in my story coughcoughElisa&Rileancoughcough er, yeah, so I'm going to make an alternate ending that I'll just attach to this story when it's done so as not to confuse you! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED!

flammingirl: "Action"? panics It's boring! freaks out Hopefully it's better now… maybe?

E J Riddle: Read to find out!

dancrchick: thanks, I'm glad I'm still doing a good job!

HottStuffMelv: I'm sort of updating soon… maybe…

Lela-of-Bast: You were inspired! Hooray for inspiration!

Africa: Thank you for reviewing! Read to find out and if you're not satisfied, I'm making an alternate ending so keep reading!

analea: I can always use encouragement and praise! Thanks!

I: HOORAY! Someone noticed! I've read the Chronicles of Narnia at least three times! Can't wait 'til the movie comes out!

daja-7: Thanks! Ella Enchanted is my favorite, too. I've read 'The Wish' – it was great!

**F**all was upon us. The leaves were falling from the trees in a cascade of fiery colors. John and I sat watching the setting sun shine on the leaves still left on the trees, making them all turn golden in the dying light. Emma brushed Ginger's light chestnut coat, also watching the brilliant sunset.

"Four months," John sighed.

I raised one eyebrow. He glanced at me and explained, "It's been four months since we've ran away from that God forsaken villa."

"Oh. Wow, you're right." I hadn't really thought about it. It had been slightly less than four months since we began to deliver mail for Rilean and Caspian, and slightly less than that that I had been visiting Rilean on a regular basis. I had to smile to myself. How far our friendship had come in four month's short time!

The next morning, Moonlight and Ginger pranced on the cobbled streets of Frell as we approached the castle once again. I tried to remember just how many times we had gone to the castle to deliver the mail. I concluded that we had done it a lot and left it at that.

When we reached the princes, I could tell immediately by their excited looks that there was a surprise waiting for us. When I looked at them in question, Rilean winked.

"You know," Prince Caspian started. "We were wondering…"

"Would you like to be our royal mail carriers? For us and our brothers and sisters?" Rilean finished for him, "Because we need regular carriers since we write letters so often. We'll give you a room in our house, and you'll be paid well with money, food, and clothing."

Emma and I would have accepted the offer right away, but Caspian said quickly, "We'll give you the night to think about it. Come back tomorrow and tell us your answer."

When we told John, he shouted, "What were you thinking! If you had accepted the offer, you would have left me behind! Not that I care," he added quickly. "But also, you'll be around them all the time, and you can't possibly keep that kind of a secret from them when you are around the royal family so often! You would be attending balls most likely, and you know darn well that Amelia would be there with Lou, and one of them would recognize you! You know what they do to people who have deceived the royal family? WHOOSH! There goes your head!"

Emma and I did not look up, for we knew that this was true.

John calmed down after a long silence. "Just tell them you can't, okay? We'll – we'll think of something. I'm going to bed. Good night."

I couldn't sleep. What the heck was Rilean thinking? Or maybe he wasn't thinking. I mean, did he really think that his family would welcome me with open arms? Did he really think that I could get away with looking like a guy for a long time! He knew about Amelia – I had poured my heart out to him about how much I hated her – so why would he ask me to do this? Next time I saw him, we'd have a **long** talk. A very long talk.

The next morning when we set off to the castle, I was ticked off.

"There you are!" Rilean grinned at both of us. "My mother and father have come back from the Athourian Grounds. I want you to meet them."

Before either Emma or I could say a word, Rilean and Caspian steered us through the main hallway towards the throne room. I panicked on the inside, while trying to smile at the two princes as we went through the castle. I couldn't meet the king and queen. They were – well, they were the **king and queen**. And meeting Queen Ella? For a dragon's sake, I had practically idolized her, admiring her strength to break the curse and I was going to _meet_ her? I started to think I was going insane. What if I slipped on a word in Elfian? What if they asked us a question about elves that we couldn't answer? Should we make it up?

By that time we were in the throne room. Queen Ella and King Charmount were seated on the thrones, waiting for us.

"Father and Mother!" Rilean bowed in respect. "Our new friends, Joshua and Elisha!"

We bowed low. Queen Ella smiled. Then she began to speak in almost perfect Elfian, "I hear you are to be the royal mail carriers, as Rilean says."

I thought quickly. In Elfian, I spoke, "Your Majesty, I don't believe we can accept the offer your sons have proposed." I had never sounded that proper before. It surprised me, and I choked up before I could continue.

Emma stared at me as if to say, "This better be good!" Great. No pressure, right?

"And why not?" Rilean asked sharply. I winced. We would definitely be having a long talk later.

"Because we would like to stay with our brother in the regular mail-carrying business." What kind of an excuse was that? I wondered to myself. Oh well. I was the one who made it up.

There was an awkward silence.

"You may bring him with you." King Charmount said generously.

"But-"

"No excuses. I would like for my sons to have some companions. You will come with your belongings to the castle tomorrow morning."

"But-"

The king raised his hand for silence.

He continued, "Ella and I will not be here, but Prince Caspian and Prince Rilean will. You are dismissed." I heard him mutter, "Maybe they'll learn Elfian better."

"But-" I said softly. My heart sank. We had been _ordered_. What was I going to do now?

Emma and I bowed again, and left. Rilean and Caspian walked beside us, happy, but thoroughly confused.

Rilean told Caspian loud enough for me to hear, "I'm going to take a ride in the woods now, alone, all right?"

As soon as we were away from the castle, Emma said, "Way to go, Elisa!"

"Well, I didn't hear you giving any bright ideas!" I snapped.

Emma said angrily, "Well thanks to your big mouth, we've been _ordered _to come and be the royal mail carriers!"

"We'll figure something out!" I shouted.

"Why are you shouting at me!" She shouted back.

"I'm not shouting! I'm talking really loudly!" I… shouted (again)

"Well stop talking really loudly!" Emma screamed, then quickly regained her composure as many people on the streets stared at the two shouting elves on horseback.

Emma sighed. "Now what?"

"Now, I'm going to ride away and let you and John work this out. Then, I'll come back and see what you two think. Talk to you tonight!" And I rode off without an explanation.


	23. Love

Hey! It didn't take me _too_ long to update, right? _Right?_ (Ahem) Anyway, I threw everyone through a loop in this chapter… so enjoy! Here are the thank-yous! **Kayla:** Thank you! **Smittened by Marauders: **Ouch? What's ouch? Oh well… thanks for reviewing! **Lela-of-Bast** (of course, as usual): Thank you! **flammingirl:** Darnit, you're right! This chapter might give you some action… oh well, it's still a cliff-hanger! lol **M#2**: You'd better read this chapter! Thanks for the review! **M#3:** Sort of a fast update… right? Thanks! **Gen:** Thanks for the review, but… name in box? What? Where? I'm confused! Um… put a penname there… maybe? I think?

Onto the story!

Rilean was already there when I arrived at our usual spot. I could tell he was shouting, but I didn't listen, because I was shouting, too.

"What was that all about?" Rilean shouted.

"What were you thinking? The king _ordered_ me to-"

"My father had to _order_ you! What kind of excuse was-"

"Do you really think I can get away with this! I can't just-"

"They'll understand! I'm their son! I'm a prince of Kyrria!"

"Oh really? Well I'm just a 'pauper' – as I'm so politely called – dressing up like a boy and running away from an evil step-sister!"

Moonlight nudged me. I had forgotten to take off the mailbags and the saddle so he could roll in the grass. I turned away from Rilean, face red with anger. I managed to control myself enough to carefully place the saddle on a dry spot of ground so it wouldn't get ruined.

"So – so now what are you going to do?" Rilean asked, slowly calming down.

"I don't know! I certainly can't _stay_, now, can I?" I hadn't calmed down. I added sarcastically, "Oh wait! I have no choice now that the **king **ordered me to be a royal mail carrier, so I **have** to stay!"

"I didn't want this to be such an upsetting matter!" Rilean said, anger rising. "I suppose I was a fool to think to surprise you with this _wonderful_ idea that Caspian and I had… and I was most certainly a fool to think that you would be grateful and happy with this idea!"

I blinked back tears. They burned my eyes, but I turned my head away, refusing to show him how upset I was and how ashamed I felt. Me and my stubborn hot-temper. I said shakily, still not looking at him, "I-I'm sorry, Rilean. I just - I can't –" I started over again, very softly. "I don't like to be ordered. And-and you'll never understand why. I can't stay, Rilean. I know John and Emma are going to decide we should run away."

Rilean stared at me incredulously. "Elisa, I know you were upset about this and all, but you can't just run away! Father and Mother will understand, I promise! I'm sorry my father ordered you, and I can't possibly comprehend why you would go so far as to run away simply because of that!"

"No, no, it's not that, it's-" I couldn't tell him. It was because of John and Emma. Rilean knew about them both but he didn't understand. I couldn't let them down. Emma would be so disappointed to know that I had revealed our secret to Rilean. And I couldn't let John know about this. He was very close to my heart, perhaps closer than I wanted him to be, and I would feel like I was ruining our friendship if Rilean told his parents who we really were and how the whole thing would turn out. It was so confusing, even I didn't really understand why I knew we had to run away. It was far too dangerous with the curse and with Amelia and my family looking for us, to become part of the royal family as the royal mail carriers.

Moonlight nickered softly. His ears were perked up, and he was watching the trail. I strained my pathetic human/elf ears to hear (elves have better hearing than humans, but still not as good as a horse's hearing) whatever Moonlight was so interested in. I heard voices a moment later. I recognized Caspian's voice, calling out to Rilean. I swore under my breath and quickly started getting Moonlight saddled up again.

"Elisa- please, don't leave." Rilean pleaded quietly.

"I must." I answered simply, trying to leave no room for argument. The voices were growing louder.

"Would- would you leave if I told you- that I loved you?"

My heart stopped. How I had longed to hear those words, and yet… they didn't seem right. Not now. Not… Rilean? I began to back away towards Moonlight who was impatiently waiting for me. What was wrong with me? I had fantasized so many times that Rilean would say those words, and now they meant nothing to me. Why? I realized with a jolt that I didn't love him. I liked him of course, but the butterflies in my stomach were gone.

"Elisa, do you love me?" Rilean asked, coming closer. Without warning, he kissed me. Instead of feeling the explosion of emotions that I thought would come with my first kiss, I remembered something my mother had told me. It was when the two hot guys from Aythoria had come to Kent. I thought I had fallen in love with one of them, and it seemed like we were meant to be together. Then, we both realized a few days before he was going to leave that we really just wanted to be friends. I didn't like him that way, and he didn't like me that way. When I told my mother about this, she told me, "Emotions change like the weather, so that you have to know what is true in your mind, not just in your heart."

I gently pushed him away. "Rilean, I- I don't like you like that. I have to go." I vaulted onto Moonlight's back and immediately took off, leaving Rilean in the clearing. I hated to hurt his feelings like that, but I also was glad. My heart had been whisked away by a handsome prince, and my mind (at the last minute) let me know that it wasn't meant to be. My mother would be proud.

My pride swallowed up any feelings of guilt I had and I quickly hardened my softening heart. I was stupid to get all mushy-gushy like that. I turned my thoughts to other things, such as the horse and rider galloping after me. My reaction was slow, and I cursed myself for it. I turned Moonlight off the trail into the thick woods. We swerved around trees, jumped over fallen logs, and galloped through streams. The rider continued to follow. I looked back to see if it was one of the guards Caspian had brought with him, or if it was Rilean. I couldn't tell, and right when I turned back my head to look where we were going, a thick tree branch hit me in the stomach. The wind was knocked out of me and I gasped for breath as I went flying backwards. I was falling and I think I hit my head on a rock and I could hear Moonlight calling to me and… my world went black.


	24. Truth Be Found

Okay, I want to thank everyone (because I got so many reviews!), but not now. Sorry it's been so long, my computer got all screwed up and it took a while and I lost some info and I procrastinated a lot and I'm really sorry and I hope you shall forgive me. I don't like this chapter, I really don't know why, but I don't, so I really hope you enjoy it anyway and I'd really appreciate any reviews/compliments or whatever. Thank you for reading my ramblings. I'm sorry this chapter is shorter than the usual ones.

"**E**lisa? Elisa! ELISA!"

I blinked up at expressionless John, the concerned Emma, and Moonlight.

"How are you feeling?" Emma asked, hovering over me.

"Ow," I replied, and rolled onto my side, wincing at the pain in my stomach and my head. Moonlight nudged me. I ignored him. He nudged me again, persistent. I groaned and sat up slowly. Satisfied, Moonlight walked away to graze.

"He's one devoted horse. Wouldn't leave your side for a second, until now," John said quietly. When I tried to stand, John pushed me gently back down. "I

"I'll go get you something to eat and drink." Emma bustled away, leaving me alone with John.

"Nice fall," John commented.

"Well I'm glad you enjoyed it," I said grumpily. I looked up at him quickly. "Wait… you saw me fall?"

"I was the one chasing you. I had come to get you so that we could leave, and I saw you galloping off. You must be deaf or something. I kept shouting your name, but you didn't respond. Then you looked back and, well, you know. Anyway, we're on our way to Gnome Caverns."

"Wait." I had to process this information in sections. "You were chasing me, so, er, did you by chance, um… see from where I was coming?"

"No," John replied too quickly. "I heard Prince Caspian call to Prince Rilean, and then you came galloping past me. Why do you ask? You wouldn't keep a secret from me or Emma, now, would you?"

My head hurt too much for me to understand what he was implying. I would talk to him privately about it tomorrow.

"What secret?" Emma asked, coming back.

"Nothing," John and I said together.

"Oh. All right, then," Emma said with a shrug. "Now, John, as I was saying to you earlier…"

"By the Creator! Are you going to start that again?" John moaned.

"Start what?" I asked.

Emma sighed and impatiently explained. "Well, we can't run away, can we? The king _ordered_ us to be royal mail carriers. So, I asked John to order us not to be the royal mail carriers, but will he? _No_, of course not!"

"Because it's a stupid request! Just because the king orders you to do something doesn't mean you _have_ to do it!" John snapped.

"John, just trust us," I pleaded.

"And why," John said slowly, seeming to stare into the depths of my soul, "should I trust you?"

"Because she's your _friend_, John." Emma looked at both of us questioningly. "What's wrong with you two?"

John quickly looked away from me. "Well, if it will make you happy, Emma, please--"

"Don't say please!" Emma and I shouted at him.

"All right, all right! I **order** you – is that better? – to stop being the royal mail carriers."

Emma breathed a sigh of relief. "There, was that so hard?"

"Yes, it was very hard," John said with a grin. I wondered at that moment why I hadn't noticed how handsome he was. His smile lit up his whole face, illuminating his perfect features. He had such a strong build, and beautiful gleaming eyes. I shook my head. No, I thought. You're still getting over the prince, remember?

"So," John asked casually, "how does it feel to be cursed? You know, having to always do what you're told? Or are you ordered not to tell anyone about your curse?"

It was so sudden and random that Emma and I just stared at him for a second before I slowly and carefully said, "Well, um, assuming we were ordered, then we couldn't tell you, could we?" I felt a small stab of pain from the curse for coming so close to telling him, but that was all.

"That's true."

Emma was furious. She spluttered, "Then you knew… you could of… why didn't you…"

John was grinning from ear to ear. He looked at me and winked, forgetting that he was mad at me for something that I didn't really know – or want to know – at this point in time. "I love giving her a hard time," he told me.

I laughed. John became serious again. "Now, Elisa, I believe, you owe your sister and I an explanation. Tell us about… you and Rilean."


	25. Truth Be Told

Yay! I'm updating sorta quickly… right? I made this chapter longer since the last one was shorter than usual. Uh, do I have to have a disclaimer? I'll put one in 'cause I've seen people's stories w/disclaimers and this is my first story on fanfiction… Anyway, thank you so much for all the reviews! Although I didn't say it before, you guys have all made my day when I got tons of reviews for Chapter 23! So, here are the thank-yous (for Chapter 23 and 24): Thank you **very** much to **andreaatf**, **dancrchick**, **Twist130** (thanks for the, er, explanation about name in the box… I think ), **Mellem**, **Sissel** (thanks for the long and interesting review), **Smitten by Marauders**, **ElvenSilver**, **tiff**, **Lela-of-Bast** (moving again! Out of curiosity, where to?), **M#2 **(interesting that you thought they'd look that way…), **Cursed2Bella** (Luck on Tests, what?), **flammingirl** (Hooray! It's cool now! lol), **Azalea Lodestar**, **PranksterPerfect**, **divel** (you're right, but I like seeing what other people think and their ideas… besides, I am in charge of this story being the writer, and I can decide whether or not to use the ideas. Anyway, that's my view on it.), **R. E. Mikkay** (dang! I can't believe you're memorizing it! Good luck! And I hope that perhaps after a certain number of times, you will actually be able to experience what Ella did ;-) Sorry about Ella being ooc… I tried to make it a little better this chapter.), **bratbrain** (I won't kill u for reviewing! I love reviews! Thanx for the compliment, too!), **little mimi**, and **jubli pebble **(Your review was entertaining! Thanks for the suggestion, too.). I LOVE U ALL! lol

**Disclaimer: **I am sorry to say that I do _not_ own the characters from Ella Enchanted that were used or are going to be used in this story.

Having no choice, I attempted to explain my actions. I told them just about everything. How we met, our meetings from then on, and then the last meeting. However, I left out a very large part. I didn't tell them about my feelings for him or his feelings for me, including the whole dilemma at the end. I was not about to open my heart out _that_ much to them. Unfortunately, it took out the most important part and left my story very short.

John remained expressionless throughout my story, and Emma had just about reached boiling point. When I finished, there was a very long and awkward silence.

"So," Emma began quietly, trying to remain calm. "All this time, and you failed to tell me?"

I bit my lip and said nothing, refusing to look at her.

When I didn't answer, Emma shouted, "You think it's funny, don't you? That you got away with this silly little secret!"

"No, Emma, I-"

"No! I don't want to hear your excuse! You were being an idiot! Do you know how dangerous it was just for us to deceive the royal family into believing we were mail carriers?

"Well, yes I knew, but-" I tried to say, slightly frustrated.

"Obviously not because you went and told the _prince_ your secret! You told him everything!"

"Would you listen to me?" I yelled back. "_I _didn't have a choice! Thanks to this stupid curse I had to **tell him the truth!**"

"Well it's not my fault that your cursed just as I am, is it? Maybe you could have done something really revolutionary and you could have BEEN MORE CAREFUL!"

We went on for quite some time, yelling and shouting at each other. It was our first really big fight. When we started cursing each other in different languages, John, who had been feeling awkward, finally put a stop to our stupid shouting match.

"Both of you, knock it off! Emma, you're supposed to be the mature one, so stop cursing Elisa with every language you know! And Elisa, for the Creator's sake get a grip and stop fighting back!" John yelled at both of us.

Neither Emma nor I spoke to one another for some time. This was quite a feat since we were around each other all the time. But, we both needed some time to cool down, so Emma would have small conversations with John, and I would sadly talk to Moonlight. Even John was mad at me, and I couldn't blame either of them really. I had just hoped they wouldn't take it so personally. When I secretly became friends with Rilean, I never weighed out the consequences. I regretted not doing that, because now my best friend and my sister didn't trust me, and they refused to talk to me. I suppose it was childish, not talking to one another, but I knew that at this point in time if we tried to talk to each other, it would turn out to be another argument.

Since now I had time to think more often, as we continued to ride through the countryside towards Gnome Caverns, I was beginning to think more often of John. It was very odd, and I would reprimand myself inside my head when I began to think of his strong Elfian features and his funny yet mysterious personality. Why hadn't I seen him as the attractive young man that he was? I mean, he was only two years older than me, really. By the time I got this far into my thoughts, I would yell at myself (in my head, of course) for my foolish behavior. What was wrong with me? A few days ago I thought I liked Rilean, and now I couldn't stop myself thinking about John! No. No, I didn't like him like that. He was my best friend. Nothing more.

When we finally reached Gnome Caverns, it was my birthday! I had almost forgotten. Now I was fourteen, on the very day that fall truly started.

**A/N:** September 21! Autumnal equinox! Yay, autumnal equinox! (Ahem)

"Happy Birthday, Elisa," Emma said quietly. I turned to face her.

"I'm so sorry!" We both cried out and we ran up to hug each other. We held onto each other for a long time.

"Now, would you like to see how well John can tell us apart?" Emma asked. I grinned. It was our birthday tradition to try to get someone to get the two of us confused. I put on Emma's clothing, and she put on mine. We walked up to John.

"I'm sorry, John, please forgive me," Emma said in a voice extremely close to mine.

"We made up," I explained in Emma's voice.

John looked at us and frowned. "Emma, why are you asking for me to forgive you? And Elisa, why are you wearing Emma's clothing?"

"Well you're no fun," I complained, sitting down next to him with unwanted butterflies in my stomach.

He grinned. "Sorry to spoil your fun. Happy Birthday, both of you."

I was so happy that we had all made up, but John still kept his distance. That night, outside of some Gnomish city whose name I can't spell, my cup and Emma's mirror gave us a surprise by showing us Rilean and Caspain standing in front of King Charmount and Queen Ella. We were contentedly gazing into the dying embers of our small campfire when my cup started talking, so we all rushed to Emma's mirror.

"The Kyrrian Annual Ball is in two weeks. Are you ready?" _King Charmount_

"Yes, Father." _Rilean, polite and proper as ever. Caspian elbowed him in the ribs._

"Yeah, I guess we're ready." _Caspian._

"You two will be true gentlemen… but a little fun never hurt anyone." _Queen Ella._ "Be polite, dance with the ladies of your choosing," _here Queen Ella winked _"and try to avoid talking to the Count, his heroic tales about himself are very boring and extremely long. I'm sure you'll have a good time."

The image disappeared, and the voices were silent.

"Well that was random." I commented.

John agreed. "I didn't want to (or care to) hear about that, did you, Elisa?"

"No, actually, I didn't, and I'm telling you the truth." We both turned to Emma, who blushed furiously, then tried to look as innocent as possible.

"Don't look at me, I could care less," Emma said with a shrug. We gave her a skeptical look, but she glared at us until we backed down. John decided that it wasn't worth ordering her to tell the truth. Which is unfortunately why there was not much warning that morning when there was a note by my head and no Emma.

_Elisa,_

_You got your chance for adventure, and now I have my chance. Stay near that city… I'll come and find you when it's over. However foolish and dangerous this might be, I get to at least have a little fun and get to see the guy of most of my dreams. I'm going on my own because you got to have some fun on your own. You owe me this one._

_Your sister forever (fortunately or unfortunately),_

_Emma_


	26. The Fight

**HOORAY! YAY! OH HAPPY DAY! JOY! HUZZAH! I'VE GOT OVER 100 REVIEWS! I'M SO HAPPY! I NEVER THOUGHT THIS DAY WOULD COME! **(Ahem) Thank you so much all of you, faithful or reviewers and random or new reviewers! A big thanks to andreaatf (your question is answered in this chapter), Lela-of-Bast (North Carolina, eh? Cool.), Smitten by Marauders (question also answered here), flammingirl (you'll see!), Mellem, bratbrain, jubli pebble (your review made me laugh!), Anony (Narnia stuff rocks! lol), Tami (hmm… I wonder if you want me to update soon… lol), JamSack (Wow, what a compliment! Yay!)! ONTO THE STORY!

**J**ohn found the situation amusing. I found it annoying and terribly frustrating.

"We are running away from the same people she just went galloping off to see!" I yelled. I paced around the campsite, fuming, but refraining from any cursing.

John was still laughing, holding the note in his hands. "What I liked the best," he paused to laugh again, "was her closing: 'Your sister forever (fortunately or unfortunately), Emma.' That was great!"

I waved the remark off. "We always signed any notes or letters to each other like that. But I can't believe she'd do this to me! I mean, just run off without us! And her whole idea of seeing Prince Caspian at the Annual Kyrrian Ball! Is that what she's thinking? What's she going to do, show up as the same royal mail carrier? By the Creator, how foolish is she!"

"Well," John said, becoming serious, "you sort of did the same thing to her. At least she let you know about it."

"But – but this is entirely different! We were in _danger_ so we ran away from the _danger_, and now she's going back to the _DANGER!_"

"Oh, stop ranting and take a deep breath." John rolled his eyes.

"I'm going after her," I told him, and I began to saddle up my horse.

"Okay, first thing," John said angrily, coming between me and Moonlight. "You are _not_ going without me. Second, you are going off without a plan. I don't know Emma as well as you do so I thought you would've figured out by now that she had already been planning this ever since you told her of your little 'adventure' on your own. Third, LOOK AT ME!" I had stormed off, and he grabbed me by the shoulders. He was slightly taller than I was, and his beautiful gleaming eyes flashed with annoyance. "Now, as I was saying, third, I would suggest just leaving her alone and let her have her own adventure."

"Oh, John, that's a great idea," I said sarcastically. He frowned. I continued with even more sarcasm, "Let's see. If she gets found out they will know that she's deceived the royal family, and at the very least she's going to get an extremely long prison sentence, and the worst is that she could be _killed_ for it!"

"They won't kill her for it!" John shouted, frustrated by my sarcasm. "But yes, it _is _dangerous. Just like it was dangerous for you to have these secret meetings with Rilean! Elisa, she's going because she's in _love_. Don't you get it? Although I'm sure you do because you did something foolish because of your love, didn't you?"

"**_What_** are you talking about?"

"Don't act like you don't know! You kept seeing Rilean because you were in love with him! It was dangerous and there were plenty of consequences but you liked him so you didn't care about the danger and the consequences!"

"You don't know who I did like or who I like!" I glared at him, careful not to show my true emotions on this touchy subject.

"Oh, I do know! You know exactly _how_ I know? Because I went to come find you and saw you and Rilean kissing in that clearing!"

For a moment I just stared at him with my mouth open, not sure whether to deny it or simply continue staring at him stupidly. I chose neither.

"All right. Would you like to here the truth? **Without** interruptions?" I asked, trying to calm down slightly.

"Please do! I have all day!" John was neither calming down nor trying to calm down.

"Fine! Yes, I **did** like Rilean, but I never loved him. At least, I thought I liked him, but then I realized that I didn't like him like that… he was just a friend. Of course, it was exactly at this point in time (when I realized I didn't like him) that he confesses to liking me! Then he kissed me, and, um, well…" I stopped rambling on, and stood there awkwardly, not really knowing what to say next. I could tell John didn't believe me. So I exploded, "So is that it! You _knew_ about my secret, and you waited for the opportune moment to have me tell you guys about my meetings with Rilean just to tick Emma off! Were you that mad at me? You act like it's the end of the world or something!" I held my tongue for once and didn't finish, "Or are you just plain jealous and can't get over the fact that I was kissed by another guy!" He wasn't jealous. He had told me so himself. Why would he be anyway? It would be too close to a dream come true. _Knock it off! He's your friend, remember!_ I yelled at myself in my head.

"Yes! I was angry with you, but no, it's not the end of the world! Emma and I trusted you and your big mouth told the _prince_ our whole secret! What kind of a friend would do that?"

"Why are you continuing to forget that I was **_ordered _**to tell the truth and I also had a sword against my neck!" I yelled out in frustration. I added with much sarcasm, "By the Creator it _is_ the end of the world! I broke your trust because I was _ordered_ –"

"Shut up Elisa!" John snapped. Immediately my lips locked together and I couldn't open them at all. For a long time we just stared at each other because I couldn't say anything and John didn't know what to say.

"Now," John began slowly, "Let's, um, call a truce and talk this over quietly and like civilized elves- er, people – shall we?"

I folded my arms over my chest and gave him my evil glare, which I had perfected over the years.

"All right! All right! Talk, speak, do something other than glare at me!" John gave in.

"Thank you," I replied. "Very well. We'll call it a truce and talk this over quietly."

I could sense that there was still resentment and a slight bit of anger towards each other, but we settled down considerably.

"I'll make a deal with you about our 'issue' of Emma running away. We go after her, disguise ourselves at the Annual Kyrrian Ball, and watch over Emma while she has her fun. It'll be our adventure, I suppose. We'll leave before she does, and no one gets angry, upset, or hurt. Of course, we won't tell her we were there, so she can be content to think that she got to have some fun on her own. At the same time, we can make sure nothing goes wrong, or at least if something goes wrong, we'll be there for her. Plus, you'll be content and not biting my head off just because your sister ran away. Deal?" John looked at me expectantly.

I didn't have to consider the offer long. "Deal," I agreed and we firmly shook hands. "All right then, now what?"

"Well, we'll have to have a disguise. What if we disguised ourselves as courtiers from some far away country or something?"

I shook my head. "Rilean would recognize me, and Emma would recognize both of us. Couldn't we just hide from view?"

"No, the soliders and guards are everywhere and that would be even more dangerous."

"What about a knight?" A voice said. I jumped, startled, because it wasn't John making the suggestion. John and I both spun around. A gnome (or a dwarf, I couldn't tell at the time), stood on the small road leading into the city. He was short (about 3 feet tall) and wide, with a muscular build. His face was hardened to leather and his hands were big and calloused.

"And – and what are you doing eavesdropping?" John asked in slow, rough Gnomic. "This is none of your business."

"I can speak Elfian, so please spare me from having to decipher your awful Gnomic," the gnome/dwarf snapped. His voice was deep and made him sound like a much bigger man. "And I wasn't eavesdropping, well, at least I wasn't trying to but your conversation was pretty loud for a while there. I found it fascinating that you didn't notice me."

John and I looked down sheepishly. Then I sighed and said to John, "Oh good. Yet another problem to add to the mountain of issues to be resolved: some random dwarf or gnome – whatever he is – knows of our plans and our secrets, and now is giving us suggestions. Could it possibly get worse?"

Thunder rumbled. It began to rain. Hard. I looked up towards the Creator in heaven and cried, "Oh, come on!"


	27. Our Plan

FINALLY! I'm actually updating! HUZZAH FOR REVIEWS! THANK YOU! ((sighs happily)) I'm getting awesome comments! Thank you to **Smitten by Marauders**, **andreaatf** (I'm so loved!), **JamSack**, **little mimi** (sorry it happened to you lol), **linno!**, **Hollister Girl** (hooray for having the gift of writing!), **fineflyer**, **Mad-4-Manga** (hmm… I wonder if you like it… lol), **jubli pebble** (yes I have an annoying busy life, but I'm updating fairly quickly… I think. BTW, I'm homeschooled, so I make my story count as "Creative Writing", but it's still hard to fit it in!).

"Well, let's get out of the rain. You two come to my place for a late breakfast." The dwarf/gnome said while putting his sleeveless leather coat over his head to keep himself from getting wet. It was not a question or a request, it was an order.

I quickly (even if somewhat reluctantly) packed my few belongings, all of which were already drenched. My hair was plastered to my face and my clothes were soaked through within a minute. John just stood there, hair dripping down his face and he was looking at me incredulously.

"You're going to actually take him up on his offer?" He asked in disbelief. I gave him a look that meant, _He ordered us to go, so I must go, remember?_ How I told him all this through one look is beyond me, but John got the message anyway and grumbled as he picked up scattered and drenched belongings.

We hurried to catch up with him as he headed toward the Main Street of the city. We passed many shops, mostly trading shops for merchants picking up their usual jewelry to sell all over the surrounding countries.

Our new leader turned into the blacksmith shop and went through the door in the back. In there were small living quarters, with a bedroom and bathroom, a poorly taken care of kitchen, and a living room with a small fireplace where the remnants of a fire smoldered quietly. There he turned to us.

He introduced himself, "My name is Seekaran, but you can call me Seek. This place isn't much, but it's enough for me, and at least until the rain stops I hope it will be all right for you two."

We nodded. John spoke for both him and me, "My name is John, and this is my friend Elisa. Thank you for your hospitality."

"Um, I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just curious… are you a gnome or a dwarf?" I asked.

He smiled. "I'm half gnome and half dwarf. Is there a problem with that?"

"Why would there be?" I smiled back.

"Good point." He replied. "Now, as I was saying before we all got soaked," with this he wrung out his coat and hung it to dry near the fireplace, poking the fire with a stick (this, by the way, did not make the fire come to life at all), "I think you two should disguise yourselves as knights. If you keep your helmets on and just stand like sentries at your post by some door, you won't be noticed by many people at all, if that is your intent."

Seek acted as if our plans were completely natural. He looked at us expectantly, waiting for a reply.

"And… um, what if we have to take our helmets off?" John asked.

Seek grinned. "Well then, you'll have to think of something if that time comes, now, won't you?"

"Well, it sounds like our best option, John." I commented. "We have to be hidden without hiding, and be seen without being noticed. Dressing up as a knight sounds like the best option, unless we can make ourselves invisible."

"Well, a knight sounds all well and good until you realize that WE DON'T HAVE ARMOR!"

"By the Creator, elf, are you really that dense!" Seek cried out. "Hello, I'm a **blacksmith**, remember? You know, the person that can **make armor!**"

"Oh." John blushed, but as fast as lightning strikes he regained his composure and shot back, "Well how do we know that we can trust you? Do you have armor ready now? It takes a while to make, doesn't it? We don't have a lot of time!"

Seek frowned as he studied the defiant, imposing elf in front of him. "Now why would I have even said anything to you two on the road back there if I didn't already have something in mind?" He paused, waited for a response, and, when he got none, he continued, "So, you and your friend need two suits of armor, right? Well, I need someone to test my new armor. I made the armor differently so that it's smaller and more lightweight, but just as strong and durable as the huge, clunky armor that is usually made and it gives you more flexibility. Of course, you won't be fighting in it or anything, but at least you'll be wearing it for some time while you're riding and walking around. Therefore, we both win if I give you the armor that I made (it is made to fit humans, so it should fit you two). You two get your disguise, I get the chance to test my armor. Do we have an agreement?"

I looked at John for the response. After a short pause, John replied, "There are two things: First, why do you need someone to test your armor when you know they won't use it in a battle, and second, why not have some knight try your armor?"

"Smart boy." Seek commented, and I didn't know whether he was being truthful or sarcastic.

John stood up straight and glared at Seek in indignation. "I'm not a boy, I'm sixteen!"

This new information surprised me. I had thought John to be at the very youngest eighteen the way he looked and acted. But now that I looked at John more closely, I could tell that through the mature posture and speech, he had the awkwardness of a teenager. I also realized that he had never told me how old he was, and I had failed to ask. It was funny; some of the obvious things to ask someone about themselves had slipped my mind.

"What ever you say," Seek answered with a shrug. "To answer your questions, I am not having a knight test them out until I know that they truly will work in everyday riding and walking, even running. When I know that they will work for that, I can have a knight come and test them out while in a mock battle or something."

"It's all ready, you may leave whenever you wish. Only promise me that you will return my armor when you come back. If you don't," he lowered his voice into a menacing whisper, "I _will_ find you."

John was not about to take that from someone half his size. He towered over Seek, who did not back down. John asked in a whisper just as menacing, "Is that a threat?"

"John…" I said warningly. "Give it up, okay? Seek, we accept the deal. Now both of you stop trying to act all macho." I found it funny that I hadn't noticed John's immaturity before. _Well, he isn't that immature… _I thought, _besides, all guys have their flaws, right?_ I sighed at my own stupidity. I still couldn't think up a good enough excuse to stop liking John. Was that it? Did I like him? Was I actually admitting that I _like_ him?

"So let's go and look at the armor. I'm ready for some danger!" John said excitedly, and he flashed me his best smile. I tried to grab my heart and pull it back down to Earth before it floated off into the sky. My heart just took me with it. I smiled back.

"Took you two long enough!" Seek said exasperatedly, and led us back to his shop.

With great difficulty, Seek impatiently taught us how to put on armor. It was heavy, and yet Seek had said that this was the lightest armor ever made! Then we had to get our horses used to the extra weight. Moonlight, being half unicorn and having some draft horse blood in him, was fine with the extra weight. When I sat down on him, he turned his head and looked at me with his big, beautiful, and defiant eyes, seeming to say, "Is that all you've got? Bring it on!" While we trotted down the street, he pranced and strutted his stuff, showing off his knight in shining armor on his back. When I asked him to halt, he reared up gracefully and with much pride, and halted in front of Cinnamon.

"Show-off." I told him. He ignored this comment and looked to make sure that John's mare was watching.

Cinnamon wasn't as forgiving of the extra weight as Moonlight was, and she made sure John knew it. But John knew how to handle her, and before long Cinnamon stopped complaining.

"Now you can go and sulk, mare," John said, getting off and tying her up again. And so she did. John turned to me. "When should we leave?"

I shrugged. "It was a five or six day ride from Frell, and we were traveling fast to get away. The ball's in two weeks, so we have plenty of time, I suppose. And we don't want to get there before Emma does, so we could leave tomorrow and make it a leisurely ride to Frell."

"You two may stay at my place for the night. It will be a tight fit, but if you want to, you can." Seek offered.

"Thank you." John and I said in genuine appreciation.

So that night we stayed at Seek's house. We had a light dinner, sitting in his living room. There wasn't much room, but it was still comfortable anyway. I was _very_ happy, because the small living room meant having to sit close together, so John and I sat next to each other facing Seek. John's leg was touching mine, and this trivial thing made me giddy. Then I felt stupid, but still giddy. We talked about anything and everything, with Seek asking us questions about our life, and John and I asking Seek questions about his. We laughed and joked and ate and talked long into the night. It was a very happy and peaceful night. I thought how much Emma would have liked this, and then I thought how much she _wouldn't_ have liked Seek's messy kitchen. It would be spotless by now, with Emma at the sink doing the dishes, and John and I teasing her while she snapped retorts back good-naturedly. I missed her.

It was very late; John and Seek were talking about mighty battles of elves and gnomes and dwarfs. I found it fascinating but as I gazed into the flames picturing these battles, my mind drifted off and I leaned against John's shoulder to sleep. Instead of shrugging me off, John allowed me to do so. I wasn't sure if I dreamed it or not, but I almost thought that John put his arm around me… but it was too wonderful to be true, so I accepted it as part of my dream and drifted off into a deeper sleep.


	28. Plan in Action

I'm really sorry! I finished this chapter, then moved on to the next, and forgot to update! Oops. Thank you everyone who reviewed! Thank you to: **Jamsack at ff, flammingirl** (Emma's the same age as Elisa, which is… wait… oh yeah, 14. I actually wanted them to be older, but the way I did it that's their age, so, yeah.), **Mad-4-Manga **(I loved your long-ish review! lol), **brain-brat **(what do gnomes in LOTR look like, anyway? Um, look at the description of Seek on Chapter 26, that's kind of what they look like), **little mimi** (well, I didn't imagine him as a mini Santa lol), **jubli pebble **(I'm not going to ignore you because I think your reviews are very entertaining! Wow, I don't see how u have any free time at all!), **Smitten by Marauders **(I loved your long-ish review and your sentence-that's-not-really-a-sentence description of my story! lol), **Kat** (yay! I got 4 reviews from u! thanks for reminding me that I hadn't updated… in my mind I had! lol your experience sounded like fun! heehee), **AlexRiderFan401. **Thank you all! The next chapter will be nice and fluffy but there isn't much fluff in this one… I don't think so, anyway. Wow, I think this is my longest chapter yet. I hope that'll make up for my forgetfulness.

The next morning we had a late breakfast and got all of our belongings together, which wasn't much. After loading the saddlebags onto our horses, we turned to say good-bye to Seek.

"Thank you so much for everything." I said, but did not express my gratitude in a hug, because I had a feeling it would embarrass him.

"It was nothing," he replied gruffly. "Just remember to bring back the armor and keep your friend here out of trouble." He turned to John who put his hand out to shake. "And you take care of her. I suppose going on some dangerous – and what seems to me – pointless endeavor, is an elf thing."

John grinned. "I guess so. But it's not pointless! We're going to watch over Emma. I'm sure she can watch over herself, but she thinks so, too, and that's what makes it dangerous for her. So, we're just going to keep an eye on her without her knowing. Besides, who would want to miss the Annual Kyrrian Ball anyway?"

The Annual Kyrrian Ball was sort of like our version of Thanksgiving. It lasted five days. Banquets were held at the castle every night for the first four nights. Then, on the final day, everyone was invited to come to the main celebration where everyone feasted and danced all night long. The whole thing was celebrating the prosperity of Kyrria, and, although the religious aspect was taken out for political reasons, it was a feast to thank the Creator for the prosperity of Kyrria and to pray for another wonderful year. It was also when people from many countries around Kyrria came to celebrate the peace between the countries and to continue friendly relations.

Seek stroked his stubbly brown beard in thought, but was satisfied with this explanation. "One more thing." He went back into his shop and came back with two elf-made bows and two fletches of arrows.

"So you'll look like true Elfian warriors. You'd better return these, too. They were a special gift, but I have a feeling I can trust you two.

"Wow," I breathed. "Thank you!"

"Good luck!" Seek waved as we left.

Our journey to Frell was wonderful. We took over a week, skipping over the big cities in case someone was still searching for us. At the small villages, we bought food and necessary supplies. We would go at a leisurely walk, talking or simply enjoying the beauty of the world around us. Then, when our horses were too wound-up from a good night's rest to walk, we'd race, doing short speed races or long endurance races. Cinnamon would win the speed races always by at least a nose, but Moonlight won the endurance races.

During the trip to Gnome Caverns, I hadn't taken the time to look around me at the beauty of the Creator's Work. Plus, we had tried to take the most direct and fastest route going to Gnome Caverns, but now we took the most scenic route and some of the passing scenery took my breath away. Snow-capped mountains in the distance, sparkling blue lakes, rushing rivers and streams, golden fields specked with the last flowers before winter swept in. Leaves of fiery red, orange and yellow fell in cascades around us, and the woods were full of life. I was excited when I saw some wild centaurs watching us from a distance. John and I both saw two stags fighting on the trail ahead of us at one point in time. One time, though I cannot be certain, I thought I saw a unicorn run swiftly through the trees, but as fast as it had come, it was gone. The ride was absolutely gorgeous and I enjoyed every minute of it… especially because I got to share it with John.

On the first night, after we had a small fire going, John produced a small pouch from one of his saddlebags. "I've been thinking about how you will have to disguise yourself. It's obvious that at some point in time we will have to take off our helmets. So I bought some of this," he poured a dark powder into his hands. "It makes your skin darker. If you add water to it, you can dye your hair temporarily."

I was impressed that he had thought so far ahead. Then I stopped being impressed and looked at him skeptically. "Wait a minute… if I can disguise myself like this, then why didn't we just dress up as courtiers or something like you suggested in the beginning?"

John blushed slightly and mumbled, "I needed more time to think our whole plan through. Besides, where would we have gotten the clothing? We couldn't have bought it! We don't have enough money between the two of us for just a dress for you."

I shrugged, and changed the subject back again. "What color will my hair be?"

He grinned. "Raven black, but the green streaks in your hair will still show. The hair dye will last about two weeks, so it should be gone by the time we meet up with Emma if you put it in tonight. When you apply the powder, your skin will be dark brown. I would suggest putting it on your arms, shoulders, neck, face, and legs. You'll have to rub the powder in every day, because it only lasts one day and one night. Also, it comes out with water and a vigorous rubbing. Now hold still while I put the dye in your hair."

Immediately I was immobile. John laughed and proceeded to dye my hair black. I didn't find it nearly as funny. I looked at my reflection in a small pond near our campsite, and I giggled at my reflection. I looked odd with black hair.

"One more thing," he brought something out of his pocket carefully. "Open your eyes wide and be still."

"Must _everything_ be an order?" I growled as my eyes shot open and I was once again immobile.

"Sorry," he mumbled. With much protesting by me, he put two circlets of green in my eyes. When he allowed me to relax and blink a couple of times, I couldn't feel anything in my eyes.

"Don't rub your eyes!" He scolded. I glared at him. He continued, "In some Elfian countries, all of the elves want to have green eyes. It's just a sign of their culture or something. Anyway, they made these to make their eyes look green."

Sure enough, I looked at my reflection and I not only had black hair but _green eyes_. It almost seemed like magic. Now I almost didn't even recognize myself.

"Good. Now, shall we get some sleep?" John smiled.

"No. Not until you answer this question: Why? Why have you been making so many preparations for the two of us to watch over Emma? Why is this so important to you?"

John turned an admirable shade of red. "Well, I-"

"Tell me the truth. I want to know _now_," I insisted.

"Fine. The reason is because I care about you and Emma. You wanted to go, and I knew that you are too stubborn to back down, so I'm making sure everything will be all right. Secondly, this is important to me because it is important to you. I bet another reason you want to go is to see your dear friend Rilean, is it not?" He held up his hand to quiet my protest. "I don't want to hear your argument. It's important to you, and I respect that. So, here we are. Besides, like I told Seek, who would want to miss a chance to go to the Annual Kyrrian Ball?"

I smiled, then felt silly when my feelings for John grew. He _cared_ about me. It wasn't _liking_ me, but it was something. I looked directly into his eyes to show him my full appreciation as I expressed my gratitude. I decided I would let him continue thinking I liked Rilean. It made hiding my feelings for him simpler.

"_Now_ can we go to sleep?" He asked.

"Um… wait… oh yeah, what's your disguise? The princes won't recognize you, but Emma will."

"I was going to do the same thing to myself. Dye my hair black, make my eyes green, and make my skin darker. But if it'll make you feel better, I'll do it now."

When his disguise was done, I laughed and laughed. He was still hot with black hair and green eyes.

The whole trip, when we'd stop to rest, John taught me archery. Elves are extremely good at archery, but I was only part elf. I caught on quickly, and by the end of the trip my aim was good and my form was perfect. However, my aim wasn't nearly as good as John. It had been a long time since he had learned archery, but after a couple of practice shots, he shot down an apple about 70 meters away.

So the trip went on. The morning before we arrived at Frell, we put on our armor, just so it would seem more like we were knights as we trotted through more populated lands. I rubbed the powder over my body, and my skin darkened considerably. John just stared, and then burst out laughing. I smiled self-consciously.

"Wonderful! All right, here's the plan." John began, pulling Cinnamon up next to Moonlight. Moonlight began to strut, and Cinnamon pretended to ignore him. John continued, "The plan is… well, actually, I confess that I don't have one."

"Great plan."

"Thanks. I thought so, too."

"So… what are we going to do once we get there?" I asked.

"Well, all knights are allowed to attend the four banquets and then the ball, so I figured we'd go up on the night of the first ball, introduce ourselves as Elfian warriors from Forretha Gladiu. Elfian warriors from there usually attend the ball… let's just hope they'll think we're from a different section of Forretha Gladiu and they won't question our truthfulness. Then, they'll let us in and our search for Emma will begin."

"See? You did have some sort of plan."

"I know. I just said I didn't have a plan just to see your reaction."

Before I could punch him in the shoulder, he and Cinnamon were off. Moonlight and I were at their heels.

A while later we were approaching the inner castle walls. I had a fleeting memory of mailing letters to and for Rilean, but I did not regret not liking him anymore. John and I tried to look like impressive Elfian warriors. Our armor shone, arrows were slung over our shoulders, and our long bows were slung on our backs. Cinnamon and Moonlight held their heads high as they tried to look impressive, too. John and I both took our helmets off at the same time, and I shook my now raven black hair from the helmet. I heard a whistle from one of the soldiers and blushed furiously. John glared at the soldiers angrily, but said nothing. He then saluted the soldiers and called out to them, telling them our names (he called me Adrianna, and he called himself Leglos), and our business in Kyrria. They accepted the information and opened the gates.

"There is no way that should've worked," John breathed as the drawbridge was lowered. I stifled a giggle. I guessed that female Elfian warriors don't giggle.

As our horses strutted over the drawbridge, John whispered to me, "I know you really hate people to order you around, and I apologize ahead of time, but don't say anything in Kyrrian. You may speak in Elfian to anyone who speaks to you, but don't just go up to someone and talk to him or her. It will be better for both of us. Understand?"

I sighed and said, "Whatever."

There were some sniggers at our unusual armor, and some soldiers even pointed and laughed. So both John and I dismounted with ease at the same time, showing the rude soldiers the flexibility of our armor. The laughing stopped after that.

"I like your armor, madam." I heard a voice say in Elfian. They had a distinct Kyrrian accent, and I knew that voice. I spun around and faced the one and only Prince Rilean.

"Ril- um, Your Highness, Prince Rilean, I presume," I corrected myself quickly and bowed. "Thank you for the compliment. It is made by – a friend of mine. A dwarf from Gnome Caverns." I decided not to go into an explanation of Seek being half dwarf and half gnome. "He told me that the metal has been heated in a certain way to make it just as strong, but more lightweight and flexible, and smaller."

"I'll have to tell Father about that. Your horse is beautiful. Is he part unicorn?" Rilean came up to Moonlight, who recognized him and allowed Rilean to stroke his glossy neck.

"Um, yes. His name is- uh, Star Gazer." I made up the name quickly, picking the one name that I had thought about giving Moonlight when I first got him. I cursed myself. _Fool! You didn't disguise Moonlight or ride a different horse!_ I held my breath as I waited for him to recognize me or call me a thief as he did so long ago in the King's Forest.

"I've only seen one other horse like him. Beautiful creatures." Rilean smiled. I blinked. He was _oblivious_? I refrained from breathing a sigh of relief.

"Wow." Prince Caspian joined him. He said to Rilean in Kyrrian, "I've never seen a female knight. Well, she is an Elfian warrior, so I suppose it makes sense."

His bluntness and lack of manners made me laugh, then force that laugh to be a cough because I wasn't supposed to understand what he said. John turned from his conversation with a soldier to see why I laughed/coughed and saw the princes standing in front of me.

"Your Majesties," John bowed with a flourish. Rilean and Caspian looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Neither of them liked it when people addressed them like that.

"Where are you two from?" Caspian asked.

"Forretha Gladiu." John replied.

"I've always wanted to go there! All of our ambassadors tell me it's beautiful, and the Elfian culture is fascinating!" Rilean said excitedly. John and I exchanged glances. This was going to be a problem.

"Join us for the banquets. I'd love to hear about the many adventures you most certainly have had," Rilean. I had another coughing fit. It was just our luck that something like this would happen; so really all I could do was laugh at it, or rather cough.

"Of course, Prince Rilean," John answered, and I could hear the reluctance in his voice. However, neither one of the princes caught on. I thought that the only reason he didn't decline was because I would've had to join them anyway.

Rilean nodded. "Good. I beg your forgiveness, but we must go now. We'll see you at the banquet. We will reserve seats for you."

Caspian, being less proper, said, "See you later."

With that they left, and John and I just looked at each other.

"Well, I think that went well," I said brightly, and then I laughed at John's grimace. "Do _you_ know anything about Elfian culture in Forretha Gladiu?"

John shrugged. "My mother told me of the legends, which I'm sure both princes know well. Of their culture, I have no idea. I'll make it up as I go along. For now, let's go buy ourselves some new tunics so we look a little like knights and not poor elves."

I rolled my eyes but agreed. We bought the clothes, and after that we spent the rest of the afternoon searching for Emma. Our search was unsuccessful, as we expected for our first search. We hoped to see her at either the banquet or the ball in four days, but we were going to search for her during the time before the ball. Once we found her, we could then keep an eye on her to make sure she wasn't ever in trouble.

That night when we showed up for the banquet, we both gaped at the beautiful decorations and our mouths watered at the bountiful feast laid out on the table. Before we sat down, we scanned the room for any signs of Emma or someone looking like Emma. Embarrassedly, we quietly made our way to our reserved seats across from Prince Rilean and Prince Caspian. They both grinned at us as the banquet began.

Rilean introduced us to the King and Queen. "Mother and Father, these are two Elfian warriors from Forretha Gladiu. They are the ones I told you had the new armor."

Then Caspian introduced his friend. She was very quiet, and wore a hood and veil so that only her eyes showed. I had heard of countries where women had to wear veils, but what was she doing here? "This is my new, um, acquaintance," (Rilean coughed loudly) "and her name is Lisa from Pakist."

The King and Queen exchanged glances and smiled at some unknown joke. "Pleased to meet you all." They said politely.

The feast began, and for the first part of the banquet there was little talking as everyone stuffed their faces… well, at least the people who didn't have very good manners. Wine was served as well as water. I tasted a sip, having never had wine before, and I found it disgusting. I liked the flavor, but the after-taste was awful. Servers came by to refill the cups, and they looked at me questioningly when they saw my wine practically untouched. Then they had to ask if it was too my liking, if I wanted a different kind, but I replied that I just wanted water. The veiled woman, Lisa, did not drink the wine either, I noted. I began to watch her more closely, becoming more suspicious. However, when Lisa was asked why she didn't drink the wine, she replied in a quiet, polite voice with the hint of an Arani accent (Arani was the language of all of the Aranic countries to the southeast of Kyrria. My mother had taught Emma and I some Arani when we were younger.), "In my country, I am not permitted to drink wine until I am seventeen. Please forgive me, I'm sure the wine is delicious."

I sighed. Her accent seemed genuine, so I assumed it wasn't Emma with some disappointment. I had hoped I'd see her during the four banquets before the ball. After the main course was finished, the Great Hall was loud with talking and laughter. I suppose it seems naïve, but I was amazed that the King and Queen had such funny personalities! They joked with the rest of us, and the Lisa joined in the conversation and had a personality of a polite, respectful Aranic woman, but she definitely had a joking, personable side to her. I decided I liked her. John made up many stories, and everyone at our table listened as he wove tales of our adventures. Of course, every one of them was made up, but it was still fascinating to hear him lie through his teeth as a beautiful storyteller. Music was played in the background and there were dancers as well; the whole atmosphere was casual and festive. We had a wonderful time, and I couldn't wait for the next feast. Before we left, John and I bowed (I bowed because I had a tunic on, and not a dress) and turned to leave. I looked back to see Lisa curtsying to the King and Queen. I almost couldn't contain my laughter. I decided to tell John later.

That night, we slept in the barn where we were keeping our horses, since we didn't have enough money to pay for rooms. The princes had offered for a place there, but we couldn't accept such an offer.

In the barn, I relaxed against Moonlight's side and gave a contented sigh. "Well, we found her. She almost had me fooled. She put on a wonderful show."

"Who?"

"Come on, John! Don't tell me you forgot to look for her! I'd know that curtsy anywhere, because neither of us can do it properly. Lisa is _Emma_!"


	29. The Annual Kyrrian Ball

Darnit… I took a long time to update… again. Sorry! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS! Thanks to **Smitten by Marauders** (your review made me so happy! I laughed a lot. It was great. I didn't use bubble gum, but there is something else in this chapter I thought you might like…lol. Hope you like this chapter as much as you liked the last one!), **flammingirl** (uh… I don't know what you're talking about… jk I fixed it as soon as I read your review 'cause I was like "Darnit!" and I fixed it. Um… yeah… I'm okay. Thanks for the help!), **JamSack**, **little mimi,** **Masked Dragonfly** (hooray for a new reviewer!), **Kat **(sorry I didn't update sooner…) **jubli pebble **(I fixed the subtlety slightly…), **Indian Ink** (hooray for another new reviewer!), and **Mellem.**

The next day the feast was even bigger, because according to the holiday, the first feast is the smallest, but the fourth is the largest, and then the Ball is the celebrating. Of course, to me it seemed like too much because I had never seen that much food at one time.

At the second feast, Areida, Queen Ella's friend, came from Ayortha to visit. She came with her husband and her daughter, who was probably my age or a year older. John, now "Leglos", stared at Areida's daughter when she entered. She was a beautiful Ayorthaian, and I found jealousy rising up inside. I elbowed John in the ribs a little too hard when he began to gape as well as stare wide-eyed. The introductions were made, and I simply nodded my head curtly, but John inclined his head and tried to impress her with his almost perfect Ayorthaian. I was tempted to flirt with Rilean to get John's attention, but I shook my head and cursed myself for thinking so childishly.

To begin the second day, a seemingly prominent old man stood up to make a speech. He droned on and on about only the Creator knows what. As my attention quickly drifted away, I saw that of all the people the King, Queen and Areida were paying the least amount of attention. They were whispering to each other and… _giggling_? My picture of a king and queen, as well as the queen's personal friends, was completely wrong. After the speech, the Great Hall was noisier than ever, and we continued to talk and joke and laugh and eat and eat and eat. John did not tell any more adventure stories, even though everyone insisted, because he claimed to be all out of tales of our adventures. I just had to shake my head and smile.

During the next three days of the feast I got to know the King and Queen better, and they got to know Leglos and Adrianna better. The princes constantly commented on how much I was like someone they knew. I noticed that Caspian was increasingly more interested in the veiled woman, whom I was now sure was Emma. Evidently, he was reminded very much of a friend he once had. I pretended not to know Emma, and only asked her polite, every-day questions once in a while. I was surprised she didn't recognize me, but I was also glad at the same time.

After the second day's feast, Rilean insisted that we stay at the castle, having gotten reports that we had slept in a barn with our horses (how he got these reports, I didn't ask). So we accepted, and lived in luxury for the next three days. There were feather beds, hot baths with many perfumes and oils, and _servants_ to completely pamper us. When I came to check on John in the adjoining room to mine, he was grinning from ear to ear while eating breakfast in bed. All I could do was laugh at him. They were days I will not soon forget, for it was a taste of how the rich lived. I decided that I didn't want to live that way (I found there was too much dependence in the servants, plus I had been a servant at one point in time not too long before and was scarred for life by that experience), but every once in a while wouldn't hurt anyone. Emma was staying at the castle as well, as a royal guest. I made sure she never saw Moonlight, because she would recognize him immediately.

At one point in time John and I were asked by one of the guests why we only wore one set of clothing. The comment reminded me so much of Amelia that through clenched teeth I replied, "We have no need for finery and we traveled light to get here. Besides, it's not the end of the world to only have one set of clothes so please don't panic on our behalf."

John sniggered, and the woman "humph-ed" and walked away. John commented, "You really don't get along well with others, do you?"

"No, not really. At least not _those_ kind of people."

To get ready for the Ball, I bathed in the rich aroma of the expensive oils, feeling slightly embarrassed at how many KCs were spent just for me to take a bath. After rubbing the skin powder over my body, I actually tried to tame my wild hair by smoothing it down with some substance Queen Ella had recommended (she _recommended_ something for _me_!). I then put on the same attire I had worn since we arrived (after politely asking one of the castle servants to wash it for me), but I didn't care. I looked at myself in the glass mirror and smiled slightly at my reflection. A dark-skinned, green-eyed, tall girl stared back at me. Her almost waist-length black hair fell in cascades down her back, and it was smooth and shiny, reflecting the green streaks through her hair. Her muscles were toned and all the baby fat of childhood was gone. I almost thought that the girl staring back at me really was an Elfian warrior, if not slightly too young to be one. When I came out to meet John, he smiled and cocked his head to one side. I raised an eyebrow in question.

"It's funny… you _almost_ took a long time in there just like a true lady would. I'm impressed."

I bore down on him, and he quickly deflected the blow that was about to be given to him. Laughing, he said, "Oh, come on, I was joking. Here, I have something for you."

He presented a wooden sculpture, and I realized it was the one he had been working on since I slaved for "Madam" Sarah. It was a beautiful unicorn, slightly resembling Moonlight, rearing up and pawing at the air, daring anyone to challenge him. I could almost see the unicorn's muscles rippling and I could almost hear his proud neigh.

"It's beautiful," I breathed. "Thank you."

After a moment's hesitation, I gave him a hug. John was surprised, but then gently hugged me back. Now we both felt odd, so we released each other with slightly pink faces.

"Shall we go?" John asked after an awkward silence. I nodded, and we set off for the Great Hall.

The decorations were even more exquisite, and the floor had been swept clean of tables for a wonderful ballroom area, with "finger-food" overflowing from the tables lined up against the wall. The place was completely crowded. People came from all over the country, some people from different countries who were in Kyrria as ambassadors, diplomats, or visitors. Rich and poor alike were there, but there was an obvious divider between the rich, poor, and middle class. However, different human races mixed freely. Some other creatures came as well. I saw several elves, a few gnomes and dwarves, and, to my utter amazement, even a giant, whom I knew was a friend of the King and Queen.

"Leglos! Adrianna!" Rilean called out to us. Giggling young girls in expensive dresses surrounded him, and he saw us as his escape. I couldn't blame him, but I couldn't blame the girls, either. Rilean was very handsome, and I admitted that to myself even though I didn't like him like that anymore. He politely excused himself and walked to us quickly. He breathed a sigh of relief.

I grinned. "You're very popular."

"I'm glad you noticed," he snapped, then apologized. "Forgive me. I just don't like any of those girls, and they get to be bothersome."

We stopped when King Charmount started his short speech to begin the ball. We all raised a toast to the King of Kyrria, and then to Kyrria itself, and then, to my surprise, to the Creator who gave us Kyrria. The Annual Kyrrian Ball had begun.

Rilean bowed to me. "May I have the first dance?"

I smiled slightly, and then I told him shyly, "Honestly, I don't know how."

"That's fine. I'll teach you." Rilean offered his hand. I glanced at John, who shrugged an "I don't care" (though I doubted that was the truth), so I took Rilean's hand.

The group of girls glared at me enviously. Then they eyed up John, who began to slowly back away from them. I couldn't help but laugh. I couldn't blame the girls there, either.

Rilean taught me the steps slowly, and he had much more patience for teaching me than I would ever have. I was clumsy, and I knew it, but I tried my best. After the first song I was fairly good, so we danced to the next song. I focused on the rhythm of the music and timed my steps with Rilean's. I relaxed slightly. Then another song was played and I had to learn new dance steps. This song was lively, and it was actually much easier to dance to since I didn't have an itchy dress to make maneuvering harder. Suddenly I realized that I was dancing next to John, who was dancing with Areida's daughter, Lindaeyan. A pang of jealousy hit me, but I shoved it aside. After the dance was over, the four of us – Rilean, John, Lindaeyan, and me – stopped and bowed or curtsied to each other.

John offered his hand to me, and Rilean offered his hand to Lindaeyan. I smiled at the look in Rilean's and Lindaeyan's eyes. _I believe Rilean and she will go together nicely,_ I thought. Before I could stop myself, I also thought, _Will John and I go well together?_

Happily, I danced with John. After a few moments of tension and awkwardness, we both relaxed in each other's arms. We stared into each other's eyes, trying to see into the depths of the other's soul. We talked a little, remembering when we first met and all that had happened since. I was in heavenly bliss. The song ended, and slowly the two of us were brought back to Earth. For a moment, I thought he was coming closer to my face to kiss me. However, I was wrong, as usual. He gently whispered in my ear, "Would you like to go get something to eat now?"

With slight disappointment and a fast-beating heart, I nodded. We walked over to the tables, and John excused himself to the bathroom. I looked around the ballroom, feeling dizzy from the tidal wave of emotions that had obliterated all other senses. I unwillingly admitted that I had actually hoped he was going to kiss me. I saw the veiled woman (Emma) and Caspian dancing together, both of them laughing and it seemed that neither had ever been this happy. Rilean and Lindaeyan were dancing wonderfully, and they became the center of attention on the dance floor. The King and Queen watched their two oldest twin sons with smiles on their faces. So did I, and I was unaware of the approaching man.

"Pardon me."

I jumped slightly, and turned to face the familiar voice. I stifled a gasp of surprise. Lou, my very own brother, gave me a polite smile. "I just wanted to ask if you could move to the side a little. I would like to try one of those." He pointed to some exotic finger-food. He didn't recognize me. Although I wasn't supposed to understand Kyrrian, I could've easily known by his gestures what he wanted. I moved to the side, not saying anything. I simply looked him over. Lou really hadn't changed in who knows how many months. He looked a bit more tired, and maybe even a little sad, but he was still my polite, reclusive, oblivious-to-the-fact-that-his-wife-made-his-sisters-into-slaves brother. He looked uncomfortable under my gaze.

"Can I, um, help you?" He asked, shifting his weight uncomfortably.

"What?" I asked automatically in Elfian.

Lou apologized in fluent Elfian. "Forgive me. I didn't realize that you didn't speak Kyrrian. I was wondering why you were staring at me."

"Oh, I, um, you, uh, looked like someone I know. Sorry."

Now he looked at me more critically. "That's all right. It's funny. You look like someone I know as well."

It was now my turn to be uncomfortable. "Really? Well, I was mistaken, so you must be mistaken, too. Listen, I must go, I'm looking for my friend-"

"Something wrong, Lou?" The icy, honey voice made every inch of my being want to attack the terror most unfortunately named Amelia. She hadn't changed, either. She was wearing the most expensive dress I had ever seen. Even though she didn't recognize me, there was an automatic reaction of hatred and she glared at me. "Who's she?" She asked sharply, the honey from her voice gone.

Lou blushed slightly. "I don't know, actually. Well, I suppose I was mistaken as well, madam. I bid you farewell."

He was starting to sound like Rilean. Then, something very confusing happened. He must have said something, and I must have looked at him confused, because all I remember is Lou saying, "Forget it."

So evidently I must have forgotten whatever he told me to forget. Then, I looked at him blankly, confused by the question. "Forget what?"

He started to say something, and then he frowned. "Um, excuse me?"

I shook my head. "Never mind. Farewell."

I walked away quickly, trying to become lost in the crowd. I went to the other side of the Great Hall and tried to get my bearings. I had come here first to keep an eye on Emma and second to enjoy myself at the ball. So, I had to stay. Lou and Amelia would just think I was a very weird elf, and would leave it at that. I first looked for Emma. I saw her dancing with Caspian in the "couples dance". An over-protective sister switch flicked on in my brain, and I wanted to go down there and rip her and Caspian apart. However, I refrained, turned the switch off, and allowed myself to be happy for her. Then I looked for John. There were too many people, and I didn't see him right away. Also, I forgot that I was looking for an elf with black hair, not dark brown.

"Excuse me?"

I almost groaned. _Now what?_ I turned around and started when I saw Amelia's wide grin right in my face.


	30. Revealing and Romance

HUZZAH FOR REVIEWS! So exciting… ((sighs happily)) Gotta love it. O, how I love cliffhangers! But I am sorry I haven't updated sooner… it's been a very long couple of weeks… I have a big A/N that I'll put at the end so that everyone will remember to read it… anyway… before I start thanking people; I want to let you know that I really appreciate everyone who has reviewed… reviews always make my day and make me so much happier about my writing skills (especially after I read a really good book by Tamora Pierce, J.K. Rowling, or Gail Carson Levine, because their books are awesome and they make me sad that I can't write like that). Anywayz… onto the thank-yous! Much thanks to: **JamSack **(your review made me smile! lol), **Smittened by Marauders **(once again, you made me laugh! Sorry… no bubble gum or popcorn this chapter…), **little mimi**, **anonymous girl**, **Masked Dragonfly 0926, Indian Ink** (I'm glad you noticed! I was hoping someone would see the connection from LOTR  ), **Heather**, **jubli pebble** (wow… I'm glad you caught that error! Thank you! I'm fixing it right now…) **eleanor** (I apologize for not being kind and updating sooner…), **sis14** (I am confused by your review but thanks anyway!). TO THE STORY!

"**C**an I help you?" I snapped in Elfian.

Evidently Amelia had been taking lessons in Elfian from Lou, because in very slow, bad Elfian with a huge Kyrrian accent, she said, "I know you. Come with me. Now, and quickly."

_What! She knew me? How? No one else has recognized me! Not even my own sister!_ Amelia began walking away, and, of course, I followed, thinking quickly. _Where was John?_

"In here," she snapped. It was the inner courtyard garden. The guards opened the doors for us after Amelia sweetly explained that we needed to talk privately, and we would only be gone a minute. Why they bought that, I don't know, but I expected it was because of Amelia's flirty nature, and loads of cosmetics to beautify herself.

"Are you Elisa or Emma? Tell me the truth." She asked in Kyrrian as soon as the doors closed. The cold air hit me like a hammer, and I shivered slightly in my sleeveless tunic and a type of breeches that Elfian Warriors were known to wear.

"I'm sorry, I don't speak Kyrrian. I don't understand you." The pain began, but I ignored it for as long as I could. Then I said in quick Elfian (to make it harder for her to understand me), "I'm Elisa, if you must know."

"Speak in Kyrrian. You can change your hair and eye color, but I know it's you. You forgot what Lou told you to forget, and I saw the scars on your back from where my mother taught you a valuable lesson, did she not?" she asked smugly.

_How the heck could she see them! The tunic has a wide neck, yes, but my hair…_ I realized that I actually had brought my hair over my shoulder to get it off my neck. I reached back and gently felt the tops of the scars from the whiplashes. _Oh._

"You've caused your family much grief with your disappearance." Amelia commented, as if we were talking about the weather.

"Why do you say that?" I shot at her. "You don't care. All you want is a _very obedient_ slave! You have so much money and yet your aim in life is to make mine miserable and remind me of just how much I hate this-" I had to stop there, because of my mother's order.

"Oh, but that's what makes it so fun." She said with a wicked smile. "You are stubborn, strong, thin," here she glared at my figure enviously, "and you have as much pride as a dragon and yet- you have to obey any order given to you, whether you want to or not. It's fascinating watching you fight against a battle that you know you will lose. Your obedience controls your whole life, and it gives me control over you. No servant or slave will ever obey me exactly the way I want him or her to. I have complete control over you, and now, I have found you again. What a wonderful end to the ball! Now, let us-"

Emma and Prince Caspian came striding into the courtyard.

"Is everything all right?" Prince Caspian asked. He turned to me. "Is this lady bothering you, Adrianna?"

Amelia ruffled up indignantly. "I'm not bothering _her_. _She's_ bothering _me!_"

Emma said coldly in her slight Arani accent, "Oh, I'm sure. I saw you dragging her in here, Ame-"

Emma cut herself off, but it was too late. Amelia stared at her, then asked slowly, "How did you know my name?"

Rilean walked through the doorway, with Lindaeyan coming shyly behind him. "Caspian, come on. We have to 'see to the guests.' I don't feel like doing it myself, and you certainly aren't going to get away without doing so." He looked questioningly at our little group. "What's going on here, anyway?"

Caspian shrugged. "Heck if I know. Lisa saw Adrianna coming in here with this lady, and we came to check on things, I suppose. But it seems like the two of you know this lady or something. Would you mind explaining?"

Before either one of us opened our mouths, we heard an argument outside. John's annoyed voice drifted out to us. Rilean called to the guards, "Let him in! He's with us."

John stormed through the door. "There you are, E- Adrianna! I was looking for you, and-"

His face paled when he saw Amelia. He coughed. "Am, uh, I interrupting something?"

Amelia eyed him suspiciously. "Your voice sounds familiar. Do I know you?"

"What is going on!" Caspian cried out in frustration.

"Someone explain… now." Rilean said with a frown, for a moment looking like his father.

Well, it was a general order, so Emma and I began talking at once, explaining that we knew Amelia from one thing or the other. Rilean and Caspian both folded their arms and looked at us accusingly. "Tell us the truth." They said at the same time.

_Great,_ I thought. _Just perfect. This couldn't possibly- no, I'm not going to say that._ Too late, though. In came Lou, searching for Amelia.

"Oh, for a dragon's sake!" Emma cried, exasperated, and she took off her veil with a flourish. John and I looked at her as if she was crazy, and everyone else gasped. Emma looked at me. "Well, it was obvious Amelia knew who _you_ were, so there was no chance of getting away with it anymore. Besides, we're going to have to explain everything, especially to Lou."

I was about to ask her how the heck she suddenly knew it was me, when Lou interrupted. "Emma? Elisa? What in the Creator's name is going on!"

"I would like to know that as well." We all turned to see the King and Queen coming through with their bodyguards. "We came in to check where you two," they glared accusingly at their sons, "had run off to, and we heard all of the commotion out here. What's going on?"

"Oh good!" I muttered sarcastically. "Now the whole group is here! Wonderful."

Emma stood beside me as we faced the now fairly large group. "Well, we might as well explain now. It's no use anymore, Elisa. I'll tell you all what I know, and Elisa will tell you the rest. The two of us ran away from-" the curse wouldn't let Emma say who, because it was "telling Lou about this" as Amelia had put it, "um, someone, and became mail carriers for a few months. That's when we met Prince Caspian and Prince Rilean. When you, your highness and the two princes asked us to become their royal mail carriers, we ran away because we knew that you would find out who we really were. But why am I telling you? I'm sure Prince Rilean here told you _all about us_."

"Emma…" I moaned. Rilean coughed slightly and looked at the ground, looking guilty. I began talking instead, summarizing quickly how we met and our meetings after that. I don't know who was more embarrassed, Rilean or me. I continued, "Anyway, we ran away because although Prince Rilean insisted that your majesties would understand, I didn't think you would. We traveled all the way to Gnome Caverns, where _Emma_" I glared at her, and she glared back, "decided to run away from _me_ and came all the way back just to see Prince Caspian."

"Elisa!" Emma looked very embarrassed now. "I _told _you not to come! And what did you do? You dressed up as an Elfian warrior and came down here after me! Did-"

"How did you even know it was me, anyway!" I demanded, interrupting her.

"Elisa, I'm your sister! I knew from the very first day who you really were. Did you not think I could take care of myself!"

"And did neither of you think that your parents and I would be _worried_ about the two of you!" Lou shouted. I had never seen him this angry. "By the Creator! Was this all fun and games to you? We were worried sick!"

Now Emma and I turned on him. "Are you always so oblivious, Lou? _Hello!_" I retorted. Emma told me under her breath, "Elisa, we can't tell him, remember?"

Lou stared at us blankly. "What are you talking about? Oblivious to what? Te-"

Before he could order us to tell him, Amelia cut in smoothly, "We _all_ missed you, and we were so worried about you! What on earth are you two talking about! I see no reason for the two of you two run away for almost five months!"

Emma and I rolled our eyes and ignored her.

"Okay, can I get this straight?" Prince Caspian asked. "You two," he pointed at us, "ran away from someone – and you won't say who – and came to us, then ran away from us, then you," he pointed to Emma, "came back to the ball to see us, then you," he pointed to me, "came after her," he pointed at Emma with a flourish to finish off his summary.

Emma and I looked at each other and gave a "that just about covers everything" shrug.

"Well, that's all." I said quietly. "Can we go now? I've been humiliated enough, and I'm sorry I've deceived you, but now that you know just about everything maybe you'll understand. Anyway, I'd like to retain enough dignity to leave quietly."

"One more thing." King Charmount looked at his son Rilean accusingly. "Now exactly _what_ were you two doing at these meetings?"

I noticed Lindaeyan raise her eyebrows and she looked at Rilean accusingly.

"Dad…" Rilean said in the tone of voice embarrassed teenagers reserved for their parents. "We were just talking. And if this will make you feel better, here."

Rilean strode up to me confidently, but when he began speaking, it was in a "manly" yet shy voice. "Elisa, I, um, our last meeting… I'm sorry. I respect the fact that you just want to be friends. I don't think it would have worked out anyway… please forgive me. Friends?"

He extended his hand out to mine, and I accepted it, returning his strong grip. John looked at this with a blank expression; I couldn't read what he was thinking.

"Prince Caspian," Emma looked at her feet as she addressed him. "I'm sorry for not being who you thought I was. I did have a wonderful time with you."

"Are you mad?" He looked at her incredulously. "I think you are even better than before because you aren't who I thought you were! _That_ is awesome!"

Emma blinked at him. Prince Caspian, being blunt and confident, smiled at her and said, "Lisa of Pakist, or whoever you are, I love you!"

For a moment, Emma didn't react. Everyone was grinning at her and Prince Caspian (except for Amelia, who stared dumb-founded). Then, Emma smiled and said quietly, "Well it took you long enough. And my name is Emma." Prince Caspian breathed the name "Emma" as if it was a beautiful, sacred word. He came up as if to kiss her, then he saw the small crowd around them, and he blushed. "Well, I guess that wasn't the best time and place for a confession of love, was it?"

Even the king and queen laughed at this comment. Now John approached me. My insides quivered as he came near. I smiled at him and said jokingly, "Well, now's the time, John. After all, it's the best time and place for a confession of love."

There was laughter, but it stopped when everyone saw that John did not laugh, he just smiled at me. It was a smile that I had seen Prince Caspian give Emma, the smile Rilean had given Lindaeyan, but…

I stuttered, "John… wait, I-I was joking… y-you-." I stopped, took a deep breath, and tried again, "You really do?"

John sighed exasperatedly, looking up to the heavens as he shouted, "How long must it take you to notice! By the Creator, I have loved you since you first swore your head off at Amelia! Do you not love me as well? I see it in your eyes, Elisa; do not lie to me! I love you! Do you love me?"

With those words I knew I loved him. It was deeper than my liking of Rilean, more mysterious than the love of family, and vaster than any emotion I had ever experienced. It was definitely true love.

"John…" I whispered. "I do love you."

John grinned. Now I _really_ thought he was going to kiss me. And, for once in my entire life, I WAS RIGHT! He did not hesitate as Prince Caspian had done. He came up to me, put his arms around me and kissed me. It was the best kiss of my life. It was the most passionate, with an explosion of emotions to follow.

Before our lips parted I heard Prince Caspian say to Emma, "Well, are you going to stare open-mouthed at your sister or will you kiss me, too?"

When we finally separated we were both red, and so was everyone else who had felt awkward during our expression of love for each other. Prince Caspian and Emma were red as well. A gust of wind blew through the courtyard and an amused voice like singing shouted to us over the wind:

"True Love's First Kiss breaks the spell!

I am Madria, as you can tell,

And I will return!

Remember me, Ruth!

Oh, dear, my rhyming is off. Farewell!"

The voice's laughter echoed off the courtyard's walls. We all stared open mouthed at the sky, but there was no one there. Everyone began asking questions at once. "Who was that?" "What was that voice talking about?" "Who's Madria? What does she mean by 'I will return'?" "Who's Ruth?" "What spell? Broken? True love's first kiss?"

"Elisa… do you think…" Emma asked me thoughtfully. "I wonder…"

Amelia, surprisingly, was the first to recover from the strange encounter. "Well, then, Elisa and Emma, come. We're leaving."

Emma and I both were going to stand as long as the curse would let us, but then I realized that no pain swept over me. I was **disobeying an order!**

"My Creator… that's it! It's over! O, thank the stars above!" Emma cried out, and the two of us rejoiced in our newly found freedom. We both danced through the courtyard, shouting and laughing, bringing curious stares from the small crowd.

"Elisa and Emma, **come!**" Amelia said in a low voice.

Emma and I looked at each other and grinned. Just like we had always planned in the many years when we talked about what we would do as soon as we were free of the curse, we walked up to her, coming very close to her face and shouted, "NO!" and walked proudly away.

**MAJOR-MUST-READ A/N: **And so the end draws near! BUT IT IS NOT OVER! If you think it is, I believe you are forgetting part of the story. I am predicting two more chapters, maybe one more depending on how short the two chapters are. As a Christmas present to all my readers, I am making sure (or at least trying my best!) that my final update for the last chapter is on December 25 (unless, of course, my computer decides to be stupid again). I'm so happy and so sad that my story is almost complete! ((cheers and cries at the same time)) Continue reviewing! I love you all!


	31. Madria Returns

As promised, the last chapter will be updated on December 25! I shall do all my explaining at the end of this chapter. For the thank-yous, I want to make sure you all know how much your reviews have meant to me! You have all made me laugh or smile or simply made my day throughout the story. THANK YOU SO MUCH! **Smitten By Marauders** (I'm glad you liked it! Unfortunately, the story won't be going on forever… -tear- and I don't know about a sequel but see what you think at the end of my story…), **anonymous, anonymous girl, JamSack** (I have read Christopher Paolini's books… I really like them! I wish I could write like him, too. Thanks for the encouragement.), **little mimi, Masked Dragonfly 0926 **(I _will_ keep my promise! I am sorry it's ending though –sniffle-), **Whende** (thanks for the critique… I fixed some of it already. Even through your editing I hope you can enjoy the story! You _do_ like it… don't you? Just making sure…), **enchantedwriter72** (you have a good Christmas, too!), **Kat, Lady Laughter, flammingirl **(you find out who Ruth is in this chapter ;-) ), **Indian Ink, lynxygirl16.** HUZZAH FOR REVIEWS! Wow… so many… it makes me so happy!

**O**f course, much explaining had to be done in full. The princes began talking at once at how they always knew there was something wrong with us, and they started telling us the story of their mother and her curse (which, of course, everyone in all Kyrria knew by then, but I refrained from pointing this out to them). The King and Queen gave each other a knowing look, but the Queen seemed upset. Lou couldn't believe that something as simple as a kiss broke our curse, but was happy and proud of us. We were quick to tell the whole story about Amelia, and for effect, Emma yanked me around and showed them my scarred back (the damage inflicted by Sarah), much to my embarrassment. I didn't want to be pitied.

Lou stared agape. He slowly turned to Amelia, who paled as she stuttered, "L-Lou, I-I, you can't – you can't _believe_ that, can you?"

"Your mother _did this_? You _knew_ about this? You treated my sisters this way!" He shouted at her, pointing at me as I quickly straightened up. I began to protest, "Lou, stop. It's not that bad, really." I had never seen him this angry, but it was rather satisfying to see him that angry at Amelia. He cried, "I loved you, Amelia! And behind my back, the whole time, you treated my sisters like slaves!"

Amelia, for once, had no smooth speech to get her out of this problem. Before Lou could yell some more, the King cut in, "I believe that you two should have some time alone. One of the servants will escort you to a guest room where you may spend the night before returning home."

King Charmount called on a servant, and so an enraged Lou and a miserable Amelia walked out of the courtyard. When they left, all of us let our breath out slowly. None of us had wanted to witness their argument (well, actually, I had wanted to witness the look on Amelia's face when Lou told her that he wanted nothing more to do with her). The King put his arm gently around Queen Ella, who finally burst out, "What did I do wrong!"

We all stared at her blankly. She continued, almost shouting, "Do you know the pain I endured to break the curse! And all I had to do was kiss my true love!"

Emma and I blinked at each other. John, however, was the one to reply. "If I may, your Highness."

Queen Ella waved a hand at him. "Don't call me that. What is it?"

John explained calmly, "I believe that they were under a different spell created by a different fairy, Queen Ella. With Lucinda, her curse was made to be a gift, and so you had to break the curse in a painful way because it was not meant to be broken. However, if I am correct, these two were given their 'gift' a while after Lucinda vowed not to give any more gifts, so it couldn't have come from her. This 'gift', I assume, was meant to be broken by the ones the gift was bestowed upon, and thus there was a way meant for them to break their curse, which happened to be true love's first kiss."

We were all impressed with his explanation, and the Queen was satisfied, even shoving aside her pride long enough to apologize for her outburst.

**H**appiness followed us all after that day.

John and I, Caspian and Emma, and Rilean and Lindaeyan were married on the same day in the royal court of Frell on Emma's and my seventeenth birthday. It was the most wonderful moment of my life. All of Kyrria (and many people from Ayortha and other countries) attended for the wedding of two strange elves and their beloved princes. There was much laughter and joy and plenty of food for all. To the amazement of John and I, a few real Elfian Warriors attended as well. My family came, including Flora, and Seek traveled from Gnome Caverns to see us. Special care was given to Moonlight, Ginger, and Cinnamon while they watched the ceremony. We were given so many presents beyond counting, and made more friends than ever imaginable. At the end of the ceremony Queen Ella winked at all of us and said, "May your love be strong forever. And of course, you will all live happily ever after."

Although Rilean and Caspian were twins (although not identical ones like Emma and me), Caspian was technically the older brother, and so he and Emma were to rule one day. Rilean and I had the same thought on the matter: "Better him/her than me." Emma spent the years before her marriage learning the ways of the royalty, and she found that it suited her personality well.

Rilean and Lindaeyan traveled through many different lands, extending Kyrria's friendship everywhere as the very best ambassadors of Kyrria ever. Rilean and I remained the best of friends and saw each other whenever possible.

My Mother and Father stayed in Kent, but with a little bit of help from Emma and Caspian, they lived comfortably for the rest of their days. Flora became part of the royal cooking staff, and became good friends with Mandy, the head cook at the palace.

Lou followed his Father's footsteps and became one of the best – and tallest – traveling chefs. I really never found out what happened between he and Amelia; nor did I care. Lou came to visit whenever he could, but he never mentioned Amelia ever again, and I did not push to ask him what happened between them.

I never knew what became of Sarah – yes, Sarah, not "Madam Sarah" or "Mistress" or "Aunt Sarah" – or Robert after that. All I know, is that after the whole story about how they treated us got to my parents, my parents and Lou never spoke to them or spoke of them for the rest of their lives. My parents and Lou apologized to Emma and I for not seeing our dilemma sooner. We accepted their apology slightly grudgingly.

Seekaran – Seek – joined John and I in our travels, giving us much laughter and advice the whole time. Whenever anyone I knew needed any armor repair, Seek was always the one they went to. He became one of the best blacksmiths, and became Co-Head Blacksmith for the Elfian Warriors (along with an elfian blacksmith, of course).

As for Emma and I? Well, Emma and Caspian, along with Rilean, Lindaeyan, John and me, had many adventures as "royal diplomats" throughout the surrounding countries. But that, of course, is another story.

John and I traveled to Forretha Gladiu and really did train to become Elfian Warriors. I was the first part-elf/part-human to ever join the ranks of the Warriors. Our intensive but rewarding training ended when we turned twenty-one, and we were looked upon as true Elfian Warriors. Once again, that is another story. We returned to Kyrria without disguises and with much pride and happiness at knowing who we really were.

A few days after returning to the palace at Frell to see everyone, I decided to spend some time alone with my ever-faithful Moonlight. We galloped down the trail that we had gone on so many years before when Rilean first saw me as a girl. My life had changed a lot since then. While I was reflecting on my life thus far, Moonlight stopped dead from a gallop, rearing up gracefully (he had been trained to do this while training to become an Elfian Warrior mount; he was very proud of himself and did this often just to show off the fact that he could do it). Luckily, I was used to this from my training and tuned my ears to whatever might have made him stop. Moonlight snorted, and took a few steps forward aggressively, challenging whatever made him stop.

"What's wrong, boy?" I asked softly, patting his muscular, glossy neck. Then I heard it: a giggle that triggered something in my memory. The giggle sounded like softly jingling bells. Where had I heard that sound before?

"Show yourself!" I called out. Moonlight's ears pricked forward, and I gazed expressionlessly at the fairy that just appeared a few feet from Moonlight's nose. The fairy grinned mischievously. "Hello, Ruth."

"Madam, I believe you are mistaken. I am not Ruth." I punched myself mentally at sounding so much like Rilean.

The fairy cocked her head to one side. "No, I am not mistaken. You are Ruth, and that is just as true as me saying that I am Madria. Oh! I forgot!" She giggled again, "I made it so you wouldn't remember. Very well, then."

The name rang through my head. So familiar, and yet just out of reach… Madria approached, and Moonlight backed away, ears pinned flat against his head. She said softly, "Remember, Ruth. Remember who you are, Ruth Elisa Kent."

I stood up straighter in my saddle. "My name is Elisa! I am-" Suddenly, memories came flooding through my head that I had never known I had. _Ruth Elisa Kent. _Growing up in the suburbs, with electricity and cars; my mom and dad, and my younger brother, Mark; my love of root beer; childhood memories; getting a tan in the back yard on a gorgeous summer day reading _Ella Enchanted_… a fairy, a gift, darkness…

I blinked. Two different lives swirled inside my head. "So… which one is real?"

Madria winked. "I think you know the answer to that one. But now, come. You haven't finished your life in Earth yet."

I stared at her incredulously. "You can't be serious! This _is _my life! I belong here! Sure, now I remember that life and all, but this is my true life! I HAVEN'T FINISHED THIS LIFE YET! I'M NOT LEAVING!"

Madria raised an eyebrow. "That's funny. I thought Elisa never showed her true emotions."

I calmed slightly, trying to get under control. "My life here has just begun. I cannot leave now to finish a life I couldn't remember until this point in time."

"Your life on Earth has only been for fourteen years. You are now twenty-one human years. Your life on Earth must be completed."

I stood there, fiercely trying to blink back tears and trying not to show it. "But, Madria, _why_? Why did you give me this experience and now you want to take it away?"

Madria cocked her head to the side as she replied, "Well, I gave you that experience because you wanted it. Honestly, if you're going to read the book _twelve times_ then the only logical explanation is that you want that experience yourself. Oh, cheer up, Ruth. I didn't take that experience away from you. Your experience was over. After all, there wasn't much in the book after they broke the curse anyway, now, was there? Dear, I never did like arguing, and now we've wasted so much time. Let's go."

My last thought was that I loved John so much, and I felt Moonlights silky mane slip from my fingers, and I remembered no more.

**Another Major Must-Read A/N:** IT IS NOT THE END! (AGAIN) Please don't kill me! ((hides)) Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I might revise it later, but I have to go **now** and I have to update fast! I love you all! Please review _a lot_ before Christmas! Have a wonderful Christmas! I'll give you my Christmas present to you then!

Much love,

VerdeFuego


	32. The End

PROMISE HAS BEEN KEPT! Here are the thank-yous (read the A/N at the end for "closing comments"): **lynxygirl16, Smitten by Marauders** (oo… can I have the cookie now! lol), **Mad-4-Manga, Whende **(I loved the compliments! But, I said it would be updated on Dec. 25… so, yeah… THANK YOU THOUGH!), **jubli pebble **(I like being evil w/cliffies! It's so much fun! Anyway, I _really _liked your suggestions! I am going to use them in some way. Thanks for the ideas! Read my final A/N…), **JamSack, little mimi, Indian Ink, Kat **(Merry Christmas to you, too!), **Masked Dragonfly 0926 **(I'm glad you won't kill me! Happy Christmas!) And now, THE FINAL CHAPTER!

**M**adria and I stood in my backyard. I was in a "bathing suit", I had a strange brown drink in one hand that I remembered calling "root beer", and I was holding the book that I loved so much: _Ella Enchanted_. No time whatsoever had passed on Earth.

Madria kissed me on my cheek gently, saying, "May you find peace here on Earth. I leave you now."

Of course, Madria couldn't remain that solemn for that long, and burst out in merry laughter. "Oh, I _do_ hope you had fun! It was so much fun for me, at least. What a wonderful adventure! Goodbye, Ruth Elisa Kent. Goodbye, Elisa the Elfian Warrior."

With that, she was gone in a rich aroma of roses. For the longest time, I stood there, trying to figure out if the other world was just a wonderful dream, or if this world was a terrible nightmare. After a while in thought, I realized that I wasn't angry or sad or happy. I was simply… confused. I looked down at my feet. There, lying in the grass, was the wooden sculpture John had made for me: the rearing unicorn that I thought resembled Moonlight. My confusion melted away into calm peace when I picked up the sculpture. I wondered if I had kept… yes, there it was. My diamond necklace from Flora. And then, just for curiosity's sake, I gently reached my hand to feel my back. The scars from the whipping were still there. I vaguely thought about how I would explain it to my… parents and brother? Neither world was a dream; they were both real. I sighed as I turned towards the strange-looking dwelling… my home.

I walked into the house, muttering to no one in particular, "What a stupid fairy."

**A** year passed. I, as Ruth Elisa Kent, changed from the way I had been before. I began taking horseback riding lessons, which came very naturally to me. I went everywhere in bare feet, because I was so used to walking in bare feet in the other world. My brother and I, instead of fighting all the time like we used to, became good friends like Emma and I had been. I got a job at a large farm, where I was actually paid well and the owner said I was the best help she had ever had. I was also a natural at foreign languages, and I began to learn as many as I could. I was stubborn to get my way, defiant if I did not want to do something, and I relished being able to say "no" to a command. Of course, I realized that this was no change in my personality on Earth. That whole year I never had a boyfriend; in my eyes I was still married to the love of my life, but I did not tell anyone.

My mom and dad worried sometimes at all these changes, but they concluded it was for the better. My mother was a fashion designer, and my father owned his own restaurant. They reminded my so much of my parents in Kyrria that I had a feeling that they _were_, except in modern Earth time.

I reflected on the past year with a tinge of sadness. I was trying to meld both of my worlds together, and it was a losing battle. I stared at my reflection in the mirror with a smile. My eyes held a certain look that made me seem far beyond my fifteen years. I looked mature, but mischievous at the same time. I liked it. _You know_, I thought, _if I look closely enough, I almost look like I'm part elf._

**T**he next day I decided to do something for old times' sake. I walked out into our backyard, root beer in one hand, _Ella Enchanted_ in the other. I hadn't read that book since… that day. I walked out to the garden, feeling the soft, moist earth underneath my feet. The sky was painted in beautiful shades of blue, purple, yellow, orange, and red as the sun faded from view. I lay down on the earth, propping myself up on one elbow. After taking a sip of root beer, I began to read.

A thundering of hooves filled my ears. I stood up calmly, not at all surprised to see a group of horses and their riders galloping towards me. Emma and Ginger, John and Cinnamon, Rilean, Caspian, Flora, Seek, and one horse without a rider – my precious Moonlight. They all stopped in front of me. John bent down from his saddle and we kissed passionately, with much cheering and cat-calling from the others.

"Hey, Mom?" I called to the house after our lips parted. "We'll all be back for dinner, all right?"

"All right! Have fun!" Came the reply.

Emma grinned as I vaulted easily onto Moonlight's back, as if I had been doing it all my life. Moonlight pranced underneath me, joyful to have his rider back. With that, we all took off into the sunset, Emma and I with our green-flecked hair streaming behind us, revealing slightly pointed ears, and joyful, gleaming eyes.

**_The End_**

**FINAL A/N**: Or is it the end? I have decided that, by popular request, I will make a sequel. Just give me some time to get a story together, and I will see you soon ((winks)). Look for me in a couple of weeks or more! THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR LOVELY REVIEWS! I **_really, really _**appreciate it **_so much! _**Thanks to the faithful, the random and sparatic, the new, and the old. I feel as if I've become good friends with you all ((sniffle)); I expect you all to be there when I begin that sequel… I'm honestly not sure how it's going to turn out… I hope you'll like it. So, perhaps it's not the end, and I'm not as sad at ending this story knowing that I will attempt a sequel to my story. Look for the sequel!

**MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL,**

**AND OF COURSE, A HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

**I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!**


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